As WJTV’s Lucy Dieckhaus reports, there’s outrage over the small fine the owner received, but there still could be jail time.
We want to warn you that some of the images you’ll see in this story are disturbing.
A Winona judge fines a man a little more than 300 dollars after police find his dog burned to death. Now many in the community and animal rights organizations say enough is enough.
Doll Stanley with in defense of animals says her fight to keep animals safe is a battle she’ll have to win with lawmakers.
“Let’s give our law enforcement and our judges something they can deal with. They are discouraged. Can you imagine how they feel giving a $100 fine for a donkey who has been starved to death,” said Stanley.
Winona police say Jonathan Thompson was fined $327.50 after his pit bull was found burned.
Stanley says she believes this photo is evidence enough that the dog was burned alive, but police say because they don’t have the body they have no way of knowing. Thompson told police the dog was already dead when he set it on fire.
Winona Police chief tells me that Thompson was not charged with animal cruelty and that case is still under investigation, but he was charged with violating a city ordinance because you’re not allowed to have pit bulls within the city limits.
She says while Thompson’s fine was barely a slap on the wrist she says the judge couldn’t do much more because it was Thompson’s first offense.
“People are very angry with the judge. They are angry with the police department with the animal control officer. The truth is I commend them everyone did exactly what they were supposed to do,” Stanley said.
Stanley says for anyone who’s angry at Thompson that violence is never the answer.
“Everybody is saying let’s burn him. Let’s do this. You know what I pray I pray his heart change. I pray that one day instead of wanting to harm animals; he joins us and wants to protect them. To me that is a far great goal and it accomplishes a lot more, ” Stanley said.
Police say the maximum fine Thompson could have received was one thousand dollars. We reached out the judge who fined Thompson– Judge Donald Bond– but he refused to comment.
(WJTV - Oct 30, 2015)
Pit bulls are banned there. Police could have prevented this by enforcing the law, confiscating the pit bull and humanely destroying it. It's the nutters who encourage evading the pit bull ban who are responsible for this. And the nutters who are mad at PETA because PETA is mad at how abused pit bulls are.
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