Puppy is found mauled; abuse charges possible

Wednesday, March 8, 2000

By KIMBERLY A.C. WILSON
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

Seattle police are weighing animal-cruelty charges against a Central Area man with a previous conviction for training dogs to fight. Police arrested the 26-year-old man Friday morning after a neighbor reported seeing a pit bull puppy being mauled by two adult dogs. The puppy, whose leash was snagged on a doghouse, was found hanging by its neck in reach of the penned dogs, both pit bulls. By the time police arrived, the dogs had chewed off the puppy's left front leg and mangled its face.

Police are still trying to determine whether the 9-month-old puppy died as a result of abuse or a gruesome accident. The suspect, who was released yesterday afternoon after spending the weekend in King County Jail, has a history of animal-related crimes, records show. Animal control officers cited him in December when his dogs were spotted off-leash. A day earlier, he was cited twice for failing to license the adult pit bulls. In 1996, he served 37 days in jail after pleading guilty to charges of training an animal to fight and keeping unsanitary kennels, according to court papers.

In their report of Friday's arrest, police noted that the kennel floor was covered in feces and the food dishes were empty. One witness who alerted police claimed to have seen the same dogs attack another puppy a month earlier. But the man's grandmother, who owns the house in the 200 block of 15th Avenue where authorities seized the dogs, was skeptical that her grandson had abused the animals or taught them to fight. "I thought he was out of that," she said. "Those dogs have never attacked anyone because they're all caged up."

P-I reporter Kimberly A.C. Wilson can be reached at 206-615-1246 or kacwilson@seattle-pi.com

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