Saturday, December 31, 2016

Georgia: Severely emaciated dog leads to animal cruelty charge against Donna Cook

GEORGIA -- A Dalton woman is facing a charge of aggravated cruelty to animals after a severely emaciated dog showed up at a neighbor's house.

Donna Nicholson Cook, 48, of 1905 Ridgefield Way, turned herself in on Thursday at the Whitfield County jail on a warrant taken out by the Dalton Police Department. She was released without a bond later that day.

According to a report from the Dalton Police Department, an officer was sent on Dec. 24 to Ridgefield Way to meet with a deputy from Whitfield County animal control. The deputy showed the officer a dog he had picked up after being called by a resident, who reported the dog had shown up at his house.


"The dog was extremely thin," according to the report. "The dog had lost so much weight, its bones were protruding and its rib cage was completely showing. The dog appeared to be very frail and weak to the point of barely being able to lift its head. The dog could barely stand upright and had a difficult time raising itself off the ground."

The neighbor said the dog belonged to the resident at 1905 Ridgefield Way. The deputy and the officer knocked on the door of the house, which still had Halloween decorations up, according to the report.

No one answered, but they heard dogs barking in the backyard. The fence was open, and due to the condition of the dog, "it was necessary to check the state of the other dogs," the report stated. They found two dogs chained to separate trees.

"All three dogs had dog houses and ropes. The sick dog had gotten so thin that it had slipped through the collar," the report says.

The two dogs still in the backyard did not have food and their "water bowl had just a very small amount of old dirty water."

"The sick dog actually had two bowls of food. I could not determine whether the owner had placed the food there or a concerned neighbor," the report says.

The report says the other two dogs appeared to be a "decent weight."

The report says the officer was advised by dispatch that the utilities at the home had not been on since Nov. 2. Animal control took all three dogs into custody.

A phone number for Cook could not be found.


ARREST INFO:
Full Name: Donna Nicholson Cook
Gender: Female
Race: White
Date of Birth: 09/23/1968
Booked Date: Dec. 29, 2016
Arrested By: Whitfield County Sheriff's Office
Tracking Number: 164276
Charge:
  • Aggravated Cruelty To Animals- Cc6211
(Dalton Daily Citizen - Dec 30, 2016)