Illinois: Unnamed 17-year-old teen accused of holding puppy down and repeatedly slashing its neck with knife

ILLINOIS -- A 17-year-old teen has confessed to injuring a puppy that was found along a Kewanee road with four slashes across its neck.

Kewanee Police have charged the teen with aggravated animal cruelty. Police would not disclose the boy's identity.

Police found the injured puppy Tuesday night after they responded to a call at about 8:15 p.m. at the entrance of Lakeland Terrace Apartments, where they found the black puppy with four vertical lacerations on its neck and abrasions on its back.

The male puppy was taken into custody and transferred to the Kewanee Veterinary Clinic at 102 Townsedge Road for treatment.

Veterinarian Chris Ryan said the young dog is about 7 to 8 weeks old and appears to be a labrador and pit bull terrier mix. He said the dog’s wounds had been 24 hours old, so the wounds could not be stitched. The wounds also had fly eggs and maggots, which had to be removed.

“It looked like he was a little weak and dehydrated, and it looked like the wounds were about 24 hours old,” Ryan said. “So we sedated him and cleaned him up. We couldn’t sew him. We had to get rid of the maggots and fleas and everything. It looks like he has four horizontal lacerations on his neck and he’s got sore on his back.”

Ryan said he believes the injury was possibly inflicted by someone with a knife.

“This doesn’t look like it was an accident,” he said. “We see a lot of accidents and injuries from animals hit by cars. But I don’t know anything that would do that other than something very sharp, and it’s kind of hard to have four of those in that area to do that. So I would have to say it was more purposeful than accidental.”

Despite the injury, Ryan said the puppy has been very friendly toward him and his staff and is eating food and drinking water.

“I think he’ll do fine,” he said. “He doesn’t seem to be holding any grudges toward anyone. He’s just happy and glad to be with someone.”

Ryan said if the lacerations discovered on the puppy’s neck were deeper, it would have killed the animal.

Kellie Wallace, Director of the Henry County Humane Society Kewanee Chapter, was called to the veterinarian’s office Wednesday morning to see the puppy, which has since been named "Thor." She said she was horrified by the puppy’s injury.

“I’ve seen animals starve and be skin and bones, but I’ve never seen one with open slashes to its neck,” Wallace said. “That was from a knife, not a dog attack.”

“I don’t know what else would do that," Ryan said. "It wasn’t an animal bite or from getting caught in something. It looks like it was from something that was more purposeful than an accident.”

“That is so pathetic,” Wallace said. “I just don’t understand. If you don’t want a puppy, call the police or take it to the shelter, but not something like that.”

Ryan said he plans to sedate the puppy later this week and try to tend to the wounds as it continues to heal and recover at the veterinarian clinic.

(Star Courier - July 26, 2017)