"Good boy. That's a good boy," said Lamar Swain petting his dog.
Swain says his Alaskan Siberian Husky, Mickey, lives for this weather.
Swain said, "He enjoys being outside and when he's ready to come in the house he'll let me know when he's ready to come in the house."
That's why he says it's ridiculous that his wife Jessica was arrested on Sunday.
"She had to, first time in her life, you know, been handcuffed and taken to jail and they actually treated her like a criminal and had her in a jumpsuit and everything," said Swain.
Animal Control says a neighbor reported seeing their dog outside for at least 45 minutes. The neighbor first noticed the dog outside at 10 a.m., they left and came back at around 1 o'clock and noticed that the dog was outside again. When Animal Control checked on the Husky, they say he had no food, water or shelter. Police say the temperature outside was -6 degrees; -25 if you factor in the wind chill.
Officer Sam Clemens said, "Basically with those types of temperatures, the dog really shouldn't be outside for more than five to ten minutes."
Swain admits this isn't the first time Animal Control has responded to their home on East Gold Nugget Circle.
On Jan. 9, Animal Control says they got two calls from two different people. Swain says they've never had a problem until December. He says a neighbor tried to adopt their dog and they declined. That's when Animal Control started showing up.
"Right now it's real heartbreaking to see what my wife's going through. You know her name's being ruined, you know, on the account of someone who's upset," said Swain.
After the dog was checked out by a vet, Mickey was returned to the Swain's that same night.
Swain said, "It's quite ridiculous that they would arrest my wife, you know before they found any wrongdoing or any type of neglectful type situations in our house."
It sounds as though Animal Control was tired of getting calls and having to respond to this same address and tired of telling the owners what they needed to do and being ignored. If they've repeatedly told the Swains to provide a dog house and water for when the dog is outside, it doesn't matter if the dog chooses to lie in the snow rather than lying in the dog house or eat snow instead of drinking the water. By law, the owners must provide these things for the dog - even if the dog chooses not to utilize them.
You can't make a blanket statement and say all Huskies can live in -50F temperatures, eat snow and sleep in snow. A Google search yielded this article about Huskies in Montana "John T. Hessert, 24, faced the charges after an animal cruelty investigation turned up 33 Alaskan husky sled dogs suffering ailments ranging from frost bite and malnutrition to cracked feet and infection."
So I'm guessing they decided to make a point with her, which was to take the dog to be checked by a vet and to cite her for neglect. I'm sure it depends on state law and I'm not familiar with SD laws, but I think it would be the same for a parent who is charged after leaving their child unattended in their car while they run into the store. The child may be physically OK and handed over to the other parent or relative with the child protective services following-up/monitoring - but the parent will still be charged with neglect ("Child left in unattended car leads to child abuse charges"). Might be the same with this dog.
Because the dogs paws are black instead of pink, Animal Control says they couldn't tell if it had received any injuries due to the cold.
Jessica Swain faces one count of animal neglect, which police say is a misdemeanor charge.
(KDLT - Jan 19, 2016)
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