Vernon Ortiz is charged with a third-degree felony for animal cruelty in terms of torture. He is facing possible jail time and fine. Why 'possible' jail time? It seems like Ortiz needs to spend a lot of time in jail thinking through his behavior. He actually broke the dog's teeth with pliers! This guy needs to be fined as well and shouldn't ever be near another animal.
Animal care services received a call for animal cruelty and the dog had facial wounds. Ortiz injured the animal with a HUNTING knife and this was because the dog urinated on his girlfriend's bed. The dog's name is Cosmo and he's a doxie mix.
Investigators confirmed that Ortiz confessed to the crimes. There is more information included in the segment posted here.
The fines can be up to $10,000 and jail time can be 2-10 years. We hope he has to pay all of this.
They also said in the press conference that they see plenty of animal cruelty cases. Cosmo required vet care and is now back with Otiz's girlfriend.
There were photos provided by the investigators that show Cosmo with stitches from an apparent stab wound on the side of his head.
We don't have a lot to say here other than San Antonio clearly takes the welfare of animals very seriously. Thank you, San Antonio, for making sure these types of people are arrested and for the very informative press conference.
This poor Dachshund. This man used a 6-inch hunting knife and injured his girlfriend's dog. It's hard for me to even wrap my mind around how anyone can get away with such terrible animal abuse and while the Texas animal cruelty laws are tough they just don't seem to be enough and the punishment doesn't fit the crime in my book.
If you feel like venting about how horrible this is, please leave a comment below.
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