“He’s so young he probably doesn’t even remember what happened to him,” Animal Shelter Supervisor Shawn Byrd said as he petted the puppy named Major in his lap Tuesday afternoon.
The puppy, about 4 to 5 months old, now is being regularly walked and petted by Animal Shelter staff even as he remains evidence in the case against his owner, 30-year-old Juan Chavira, who faces a state felony charge of cruelty to an animal after police suspect he cut off much of the puppy’s ears and attempted to sew the remnants to the back of its head.
The Amarillo resident was charged with causing serious damage to the puppy after, police say, witnesses approached Chavira upon hearing the cries of pain from his trunk Aug. 19 in the 1700 block of Avenue R, according to Chavira’s Lubbock County felony warrant released Monday.
His case will go to a Lubbock County grand jury Tuesday.
The warrant states Chavira was visiting his girlfriend in Lubbock when witnesses called police saying Chavira revealed “a dog that appears to have been ‘butchered’ ” in the trunk of his Lincoln Town Car.
Police arrived to find the puppy, covered in blood, inside Chavira’s home. Chavira insisted he did not damage the animal, telling police he obtained the dog the night before from a “black ‘crackhead’ male” who approached his car wanting to sell the dog for $20, according to the warrant.
Chavira told police he did not want the dog, but paid the man $20 and took the dog because he wanted to help the distressed animal. He said he planned to take the dog to a veterinarian.
But police arrested Chavira after interviewing witnesses, believing Chavira and his girlfriend had the dog for “a couple of weeks.”
Lubbock police Sgt. Jonathan Stewart was not available for comment Tuesday.
Phone numbers for Chavira and his girlfriend, released in the warrant, prompted disconnection signals when the Avalanche-Journal called Monday and Tuesday.
Chavira’s mother, a Hereford resident listed in jail records as Chavira’s emergency contact, did not return an A-J phone call for comment Tuesday.
Michael Salazar, listed as a resident of the apartment Chavira was visiting, said Chavira is his sister’s boyfriend and had been visiting Lubbock on Aug. 19 and the night before.
“I didn’t know anything about the dog until that morning,” Salazar said, adding he was surprised when police arrived to arrest the 30-year-old.
He believes Chavira kept the dog in the vehicle overnight but does not know when Chavira is suspected of cutting off its ears.
“He left it in there because he didn’t want to bring it upstairs because I don’t like animals,” Salazar said.
Byrd said Animal Shelter staff and a veterinarian were able to mend and disinfect the dog’s wounds, adding the only damage was to external parts of the dog’s ears.
He said the damage to the puppy’s ears is similar to the clipping technique many dog fighters use to trim excess ear material to assist in fights.
“Normally when you see this it’s for fighting,” Byrd said. “We don’t know if that’s the case here. But that’s normally what we see.”
Salazar said he didn’t know Chavira to be a dog fighter.
Byrd said the puppy is in good spirits and interacting well with people.
After the law enforcement investigation and trial are over, Major is expected to be given away for adoption.
“But we want to find a good home for him because he’s already been through enough as it is,” Byrd said.
(redraiders.com - Oct 3, 2012)
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