California: Lucio Lopez accused of torturing kitten by locking her inside freezer, viciously squeezing her, then throwing her off balcony breaking her leg

SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY, CALIFORNIA -- A Fontana man has been arrested on suspicion of animal cruelty after allegedly putting a kitten in his freezer and then throwing her off his balcony, leaving the cat with serious injuries, police said Tuesday.

Officers began investigating last Friday afternoon after receiving a report of a man assaulting a 3- to 4-month-old kitten in the 9200 block of Olive Street, according to a Fontana Police Department news release.

The man, identified as 34-year-old Lucio Lopez, alleged became angry with the feline for entering his apartment and locked the cat inside the freezer [for an undetermined amount of time], witnesses told police.

He is accused of later taking the small animal out of the freezer and squeezing her body “as the frightened kitten cried out in pain,” the release stated.

After, he allegedly threw the cat off a second-floor balcony, police said. The feline hit the concrete below and suffered major injuries to her chest and a fractured leg.

“The kitten is doing as well as could be, but will need surgery and much needed love,” the release said.

Lopez initially fled the scene but was apprehended by police as he drove in the area of Oleander and San Bernardino avenues, according to the release. He was arrested and booked on suspicion of animal cruelty and an outstanding warrant.

Fontana Police Department Animal Cruelty Arrest

On 02/06/18, at approximately 2:45 am, Fontana PD officers responded to an apartment complex in the 9200 block of Olive, regarding Lucio Lopez (34) assaulting a 3-4 month old kitten.

Lopez fled the scene before the initial officer arrived.  Officers canvased the area and located Lopez driving in the area of Oleander and San Bernardino.

An investigation revealed Lopez was upset with the kitten for entering the apartment. Witnesses reported Lopez placed the kitten in the freezer.  Lopez later took the kitten out of the freezer and began squeezing its body as the frightened kitten cried out in pain. Lopez threw the kitten off the second story balcony.  The kitten struck the concrete floor resulting in major injuries to its chest and a fractured leg.

Lopez was arrested by officers and booked at the West Valley Detention Center for animal cruelty and an outstanding warrant. Fontana Animal Services responded to the scene and transported the kitten to the veterinarian for emergency treatment.

The kitten is doing as well as could be, but will need surgery and much needed love.

• Suspect: Lucio Cota Lopez, 34, Fontana resident
• Victim: 3-4 month old, female tortoiseshell kitten nicknamed “Olive” by emergency room staff  

(KTLA - February 6, 2018)

Ohio: Robert Frazier, 36, accused of leaving his starved, chained dog outside to freeze to death

OHIO -- On Dec. 26, 2017, the Darke County Humane Society (DCHS) received a report of a deceased dog behind a residence at 205 E. Cross St., Ansonia.

Upon arrival, Agent Dustin Wills of the DCHS discovered an emaciated dog that had appeared to freeze to death during the current subzero temperatures.

The dog was chained up outside and only had an indoor style wire crate to get inside. There was no food or water readily available for the animal.

Agent Wills removed the animal and had a necropsy done. All case files were turned over to the Darke County Prosecutor’s Office with recommendations for Felony Animal Neglect/Cruelty charges.

On Jan. 25, a Grand Jury indicted Robert Frazier, 36, of Ansonia, on a Felony Cruelty/Neglect charge. This is DCHS’s first-ever felony indictment under the new laws for animal abuse in Ohio.

“This kind of behavior cannot and will not be tolerated in our county,” said Agent Wills. “It must stop now; hopefully this gets the point across to people. There are many ways to re-home an unwanted animal. Letting one die from starvation and freezing temperatures is not an option.”

Frazier appeared in the Darke County Common Pleas Court on Monday where he pleaded not guilty to Causing Harm to a Companion Animal (5th degree felony). Dave Rohrer was appointed to represent Frazier. He is currently free on his own recognizance but faces up to a year in prison and a $2,500 fine.

(Early Bird Paper - February 7, 2018)

New Hampshire: Firefighters rescue cat frozen in ice on pond

NEWTON, NEW HAMPSHIRE -- Firefighters have come to the aid of a cat that was frozen in the ice on a New Hampshire pond.

Sean Kane, a firefighter and EMT in Newton, New Hampshire, tells The Boston Globe the cat's two back paws and tail were frozen in the ice Thursday morning. It also had a chunk of ice on its back. Wind chills were in the single digits.

Firefighters think the brown and gray long-haired cat lay down and ended up freezing into the pond. They poured warm water on the cat, wrapped it in towels and used a heating pad.

There was no ID on the cat, and firefighters posted a photo on Facebook.

The animal now is being cared for by the New Hampshire Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

(WJTV - Jan 25, 2018)

Kentucky: Sheriff responds personally to rescue kitten frozen to dock

KENTUCKY -- A Mercer County couple say they're grateful the sheriff helped them rescue a stray kitten that was frozen to their boat dock.

Roy and Lori Jasper said they noticed,  on their security cameras before they went to bed, the kitten walking around.

They said they debated what they could do to help it, but as cold as it was - and being 75 years old - they said they did not think they could safely get down the hill to the dock to catch it.

Eleven hours later, the kitten showed up again on their security camera, but they were sure he was now stuck to the metal steps of the boat dock.

"He had fell in the water and came up on the little piece of rock, just left of the steps and froze right there," said Roy Jasper.

Knowing the situation was now dire, they called the Mercer County Sheriff's Office for help.

They were surprised and grateful when Mercer County Sheriff Ernie Kelty himself responded to the call to save the little kitten.

 

 

"I poured the water on his front feet, and in a few seconds, they did come loose," said Mercer County Sheriff Ernie Kelty. The sheriff continued to cut free the kitten's fur that was also frozen.

"I'd say he was down there about 15 minutes breaking it loose," Roy Jasper said, "because its stomach was froze, paws was froze, everything."

"And then he put him under his shirt, and walked up here and gave him to me. Of course, Laurie took him in and wiped him down with towels. He was solid wet," said Roy Jasper.

Sheriff Kelty said that at first, the kitten had a bit of an attitude.

 "But I probably would have too. It seemed like, that he realized I was there to help," he said.

"I think it's just wonderful that [the Sheriff] dropped everything he did, to come down here and get one little old kitten," said Roy Jasper.

 

The stray kitten that was once stranded in the cold now has a new home with the Jasper family - and a heroic new name.

"We're naming him after the Sheriff. We're naming him Ernie," said Roy.

(Lex18 - Jan 3, 2018)

Illinois: Jonathan Flores-Barona and his wife Monica Alanas charged with Animal Cruelty after leaving their Shih Tzu named Terry outside to freeze to death

ILLINOIS -- A couple faces animal cruelty charges after their dog froze to death when he was left outside overnight in last week’s bitter cold temperatures, Northlake police said.

Jonathan Flores-Barona, 26, and his wife, Monica Alanas, 21, of Glendale Heights, were charged with misdemeanor cruel treatment to an animal following the death of their 14-pound Shih Tzu, police said.

The couple “were involved in an argument” that prompted Flores-Barona to “take his wife’s belongings and the family dog to a Northlake address” on Dec. 28, police said in a news release.

The 1½-year-old dog was found dead the next morning “after apparently being left on the porch overnight,” authorities said.

Northlake Deputy Police Chief Jay Militello said Flores-Barona made several trips to his in-laws’ home that night, dropping off his wife’s personal belongings after Alanas had left the couple’s home and went to Northlake to stay with her parents.

The last load was left on the front porch at about midnight and included the dog, named Terry, the deputy chief said.

The dog was found frozen to death on the porch at about 5:30 a.m. Hours later, Alanas called police, Militello said

The deputy chief said Flores-Barona and Alanas gave conflicting statements to police, with the man saying he told his wife the dog was outside. Alanas, who was inside the Northlake home at the time, said he did not, according to Militello.

“Both of their actions are negligent,” Militello said.

Both are due in Cook County court Feb. 20.

(Chicago Tribune - January 5, 2018)

Massachusetts: Cambridge firefighters rescue dog from Charles River

MASSACHUSETTS -- Cambridge firefighters rescued a dog that had fallen through the ice on the Charles River late Saturday afternoon, the department said on Twitter.

The dog fell into the frigid waters near the Eliot Bridge around 3:50 p.m., the department said.

 

 

The sandy-colored dog’s head was above water, as firefighter Sean Williams slid toward it on a rescue board, photos posted on Twitter show.

The firefighter and dog were pulled to shore by a rescue crew. One person shouted, “Come on! Good girl,” and other words of encouragement, according to a video posted on the department’s Facebook page.

Safely ashore, Williams and the dog were greeted with applause.

(Boston Globe - January 21, 2018)

West Virginia: Caleb Sutphin arrested after chaining his dogs so close together that they got tangled and fought

WEST VIRGINIA -- Deputies say an Oak Hill man faces animal cruelty charges after finding two dogs chained together, causing the death of one of the dogs.

Caleb Sutphin, 32, has been charged with two counts of cruelty to animals. A deputy with the Fayette County Sheriff's Department, and an animal control officer responded to a home at 1891 Summerlee Road in Oak Hill for an animal cruelty complaint.

The deputy said when she arrived at the home she saw two shivering dogs on chains, and the chains were intertwined so the dogs couldn't move.

There was a dog house on the porch, but there was no bedding inside, only a concrete pad.

“Both were terribly underweight and in critically poor health,” according to the sheriff's department release.

According to court document, they checked the area and found food and water bowls around the yard, but one of the bowls were broken and couldn't hold anything. Another bowl only had a little water inside and it was frozen.

One of the dogs, a white and gray mix had no hair on its behind and it looked like raw flesh. 

Both dogs were taken to the Fayette County Animal Shelter, but due to the time of day the dogs couldn't see a veterinarian until the next day.

Why wasn't it taken to an emergency clinic? It sat there all night suffering?? Good Lord.

According to the criminal complaint, the collie mix had to be put to sleep because of its injuries. The other dog, a brown boxer is underweight and lacking necessary vaccinations, but it survived.

"Mistreating your animals is inexcusable and will not be tolerated," Sheriff Mike Fridley said in the release. "They rely on you for food, shelter and care. If you can't handle the responsibility, you shouldn't cause them to suffer for it.”

Sutphin remains in the Southern Regional Jail on $7,500 bond.

ARREST INFO:
Full Name: Caleb Jeffrey Sutphin
Gender: Male
Race: White
Height: 6'02"
Weight: 160 lbs
Birthdate: 07/16/1985
Arrest Age: 32
Arrest Date: 01/18/2018
Arresting Agency: Fayette County
Charges
#1 CRUELTY TO ANIMALS-1
NOTES: PTF Pretrial Felon

#2 CRUELTY TO ANIMALS
NOTES: PTF Pretrial Felon

PREVIOUS ARREST:
CALEB JEFFREY SUTPHIN
Date of birth: Jul 16, 1985
Booking date: Jan 31, 2015
Booking location: Putnam County, WV
Imprisonment status: Misdemeanor Pre-Trial
Facility: Southern Regional Jail
Issuing agency location: FAYETTE COUNTY - Bail Amount: $2,500.00
Court info number: 15M-229-230

(WVNS - Jan 19, 2018)

New York: Dogs removed, then returned to Lyons Kennel Owner Robert Juliano

NEW YORK -- Two weeks ago State Police and Wayne County 911 took some 200 compliant calls about a dozen dogs being left outside in sub zero temperatures.

Video was posted on Facebook too.

Authorities said later that week that the owner hadn’t broken any laws and that the animals hadn’t suffered either frost bite or malnourishment.

Sheriff Barry Virts Friday afternoon confirmed that the 12 dogs at the farm on Middle Sodus Road in Lyons had been removed from the property placed in the custody and care of the Wayne County Humane Society while the matter was investigated further. He says the Humane Society received numerous threats on social media and by telephone  Those threats are being investigated.

The Lyons Code Enforcement Officer issued a stop work order to prevent the dog’s owner, Robert Juliano from maintaining a Kennel for Commercial Purposes. All the animal have received vaccinations and are properly licensed.

(Finger Lakes Daily News - January 12, 2018)

Michigan: Dog rescued after being found frozen to the ground

MICHIGAN -- An injured dog spent the night out in the bitter cold, but he's been given a second chance after an animal rescue group found him.

The dog has been through a lot. They believe he was hit by a car, then frozen to the ground, yet somehow he survived.

They are trying to find out where he belongs.

"This is not a stray dog. This is somebody's loved pet," said Bill Heatley, founder of Streethearts Animal Rescue.

"He has a fractured femur. His leg bone is broken very high up, and I can't fix it. He would need anesthesia to have more X-rays done to completely determine whether anything else is broken," said Dr. Lawrence Ehrman with Veterinary Medical Hospital.

His ordeal began on New Year's Eve, when a witness says he was hit by a car in a Flint neighborhood.

"She heard the impact, looked out, heard the dog cry, looked out, ran to her backyard. As soon as he entered her backyard, he went and laid down at the back of the yard and didn't move for over 24 hours," Heatley said.

She called 911. The dispatcher called Heatley, who found the dog badly injured but still alive.

"When I got to the point where I meant to move him, I had wrapped him. And I went to lift the blanket and it wouldn't move," Heatley said. "I actually had to peel him off the ice."

Once he was safely removed from the ice, the dog was rushed to a veterinary hospital.

"The first consideration with this dog was organ damage or failure, and thankfully the veterinarians both say because of his very thick heavy coat, that probably saved him," Heatley said.

"We've just been taking care of him, giving him pain medication, let him relax making sure he eats and awaiting decisions on what goes on from here," Ehrman said.

 

 

As the dog they named Feliz continues to recover, Heatley is hoping his owner comes forward or they find him a new home.

In the meantime, they will continue to try to save other animals from suffering a worse fate than Feliz.

"The sad thing ... is that's one dog that we found," Heatley said. "There are a multitude of dog out here in the city of Flint and cats, they're not being found, that we don't know about."

They are hoping the owner comes forward, and they also have set up a Youcaring page to help with Feliz's medical bills, which are expected to run into the thousands.   

On the Youcaring page, the rescue group saidFeliz is expected undergo surgery on Thursday to try to save his leg.

(MSNewsNow - January 3, 2018)

Michigan: Cat left locked inside tote nearly freezes to death in -17 degree weather outside Humane Society

MICHIGAN -- An older male cat left outside the Humane Society of Midland County overnight nearly froze to death.

The organization posted on Facebook that someone dropped off the cat trapped inside a plastic tote outside the main entrance of its facility at 4371 E. Ashman St.

 

It was -11 degrees Fahrenheit that night; with the windchill it felt

like -17 degrees Fahrenheit. This poor cat is lucky he didn't freeze to

death, locked inside this plastic tote with nothing to keep him warm.

An employee found him Friday morning with feces frozen to his body.

"Leaving him like this in these elements could have killed him," the post says.

The cat was treated for hypothermia and is expected to make a full recovery, according to the Humane Society.

A sign in the window right outside where the cat was left warns against leaving animals unattended and even threatens legal action.

 

"We understand it's often hard to know what to do with stray animals but in these weather conditions this is never the answer!" the organization's Facebook post says.

The Humane Society pointed out the Midland Police Department will transport stray animals in need during the winter and volunteers are willing to pick up animals after hours.

Anyone in Midland County who finds an animal in distress in the evening, overnight or on weekends should call the Midland County Central Dispatch nonemergency number at (989) 839-6464 or message the Humane Society's Facebook page to ask for a referral.

(ABC12 - Dec 29, 2017)

Ohio: Victor Vallejo Sr. facing Animal Cruelty charge after his Pit Bull was found dead on porch, curled up in a ball and "frozen solid"

OHIO -- The Toledo Area Humane Society is investigating the death of a dog in central Toledo that was found outside and “frozen solid.”

The female dog had died after curling up on the front porch of a house at 1057 King Street.

“I don’t know how long she was out there,” Megan Brown, a cruelty investigator with the humane society, said. “She was frozen solid.”

The recorded low temperature the night of Dec 28th in Toledo, Ohio was -8 °F.

Ms. Brown said an underweight male dog was inside the house. She saw him through a window and seized him that afternoon after obtaining a search warrant.

“He was visibly shivering,” Ms. Brown said, adding that his ribs and spine are prominent and the house was very cold.

Contacted by The Blade on Thursday afternoon, Victor Vallejo Sr., 40, said the dogs are his and added he was unaware of any issues. He said he last saw them two or three days ago and left them both inside.

The utilities to the house were recently shut off, he said.

“I wasn’t staying there, but I was going back and forth and feeding them. They had plenty of food and water,” he said. “I’ve been staying here and there at the moment. I kind of fell on some bad times.”

So he locked them inside an unheated house that, based on the looks of it, has 40-year old insulation and 40-year old single-pane windows - the kind you have to put plastic up in the winter to try to keep the cold out. Then he says he only goes by every "two or three days" to bring them food and water. So for "two or three days" at a time they're starving. 

Meanwhile, he looks well-fed and certainly doesn't look like he's been sleeping on the freezing streets.

CAN'T PAY HIS BILLS, WANTS TO BREED PIT BULLS
He said both are American bullies (aka Pit Bulls). The 3-year-old female was named Nanas, while the 4-year-old male is Haze. He said claims he loves his dogs, paid a lot of money for them, and intended to breed them.

Mr. Vallejo said he isn’t sure how Nanas got outside.

“I don’t know how they would have got out,” he said. “Everything was locked up tight.”

Ms. Brown said neither dog had any food or water, and Nanas was in the fenced front yard. There were blankets and a pillow on the porch, which had a roof, but no shelter from the bitter temperatures.

“She didn’t appear to be in poor health, but it’s hard to tell when she’s curled up and frozen,” Ms. Brown said.

Mr. Vallejo said Nanas had gotten loose in August. Records from the Lucas County Canine Care & Control show she was taken to the county shelter by a citizen Sept. 21 as a stray.

 

 

An initial medical evaluation there noted Nanas had fleas and swollen ears but seemed otherwise healthy. Mr. Vallejo reclaimed her the following day and purchased a 2017 license for her.

Mr. Vallejo said claims when he got her back, she had lost weight and was sick. He said he hadn’t yet been able to get her back to full health.

OK so that was in September... three months ago. He just admitted he never took her to the vet despite his allegation that she "had lost weight and was sick" the entire three months.

CITED TO COURT, DIDN'T BOTHER TO SHOW UP
Nanas was seen by a canine control officer Oct. 22 running loose on King Street, but Mr. Vallejo contained her while the officer was there. He was cited for a dog running at large and has a bench warrant from Toledo Municipal Court for failing to appear for a hearing on the citation.

Ms. Brown said other than being underweight, Haze appears OK.

“He looks to be pretty good,” Ms. Brown said. “He’s sweet. He was malnourished and dehydrated, but I think he’ll be fine.”

She said the humane society is pursuing possible animal cruelty charges in Toledo Municipal Court.

(Toledo Blade - Dec 28, 2017)