Arizona Man Arrested After Stabbing Service Dog Over 100 Times: Police

An Arizona man was arrested after police said he stabbed a service dog to death.

Jacob Bushkin, 27, stabbed the dog over 100 times before dumping it into a trash can, police officials told Fox 10.

Family members found the 4-year-old Golden Retriever and took the dog from Scottsdale to a veterinarian in Phoenix. The vet alerted the police on Feb. 25.

The Arizona Humane Society performed a necropsy on the dog and found that it was alive during the vicious attack.

In addition to numerous stab wounds, the dog’s throat was slashed.

Bushkin refused to talk to police officers on the phone so officers obtained a search warrant.

Evidence of the killing was found at Bushkin’s house and he was arrested on Feb. 28 on charges of killing a service animal and animal cruelty.

The dog’s name was Cub. No pictures of the dog were available.

Groomer Arrested After Allegedly Breaking Dog’s Tail

In Florida, a groomer was arrested after allegedly abusing a dog so badly that the dog’s tail broke.

James Corell Suthann, 37, of Satellite Beach, was arrested on Feb. 25 and charged with animal cruelty.

The charge stems from a Feb. 6 incident that authorities said was captured on video at Groomingdales Pet Spa, where Suthann worked as a contract employee.

Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivey said Suthann became angry with an 8-year-old German shepherd because the dog kept moving around when Suthann tried to groom the animal.

Video footage shows Suthann strapping the dog’s head down so tightly that it couldn’t move before lifting the animal up by its tail, breaking it.

“To make matters worse at the end of the incident Suthann had the audacity to strike the dog in the back of the head with the nozzle from the hose he was using to bathe him,” Ivey said in a statement.

“The video is so graphic that I will not post it to Facebook, but trust me when I tell you, that it is one of the most difficult things I have ever had to watch in my 39 years of law enforcement,” the sheriff added.

The sheriff said the dog belongs to a disabled veteran who “was devastated by the acts of cruelty against his pet and companion.” The dog is a service dog for the vet.

Suthann was released on $2,000 bond; Ivey said the law dictated the maximum bond, which he said was too low.

The owners of the grooming facility were made aware of what happened and fired Suthann.

Animal Cruelty

Animal cruelty effects reach beyond the animal victims, noted researchers for the Animal Welfare Institute in a 2012 report (pdf).

“Accumulating empirical evidence is demonstrating a strong association between animal cruelty and other crimes, including interpersonal violence, illegal possession of drugs and guns, and property destruction,” researchers stated.

“Moreover, participation in animal cruelty in childhood is a significant marker for the development of aggressive and anti-social behavior, as well as a predictor of individuals who might engage in domestic violence.”

Nearly every state has passed laws making animal cruelty a felony in some or all cases, the researchers said, “a dramatic change” in how the crimes are viewed and prosecuted.

According to the Humane Society of the United States, hoarding behavior can hurt animals, with women as the main culprits; animal abusers, meanwhile, are most often men.

“Hoarding behavior often victimizes animals. Sufferers of a hoarding disorder may impose severe neglect on animals by housing far more than they are able to adequately take care of. Serious animal neglect (such as hoarding) is often an indicator of people in need of social or mental health services,” the group stated.

“Surveys suggest that those who intentionally abuse animals are predominantly men under 30, while those involved in animal hoarding are more likely to be women over 60.”