A man and woman in Indiana were arrested and are facing animal cruelty charges after police officers found a dead dog in the home they moved out of after filing for divorce.
Court documents obtained by Fox 59 showed that Michael Setser, 31, called Amanda Setser, 28, numerous times telling her to pick up the dog, Chuck, and her cats because he wasn’t going to take care of them.
But she told him she couldn’t take the animals because she couldn’t take care of them.
Even when she returned to the trailer on Jan. 12 to get some of her belongings she noticed the dog breathing heavily and looking ill but didn’t take him to a veterinarian, police said.
A dog was left behind to starve to death after a couple filed for divorce and moved out of their trailer in Greenwood, according to the Johnson County Prosecutor’s Office. Michael and Amanda Setser face preliminary charges of cruelty to an animal. https://t.co/IfTtuKQam2
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The dog ultimately died in his crate.
According to a report from the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office obtained by the Daily Journal, the Johnson County Animal Control received a tip that a dog had died of starvation at the couple’s former house in Greenwood.
The tipster told police that Michael Setser called Amanda Setser and told her that Chuck had died.
Amanda Setser met Animal Control officers and they saw that the dog was dead. An officer later told police officers that there was no water in the kennel and that food was scattered in the kennel.
A veterinarian who performed a necropsy said Chuck died of starvation.
It wasn’t clear if the cats survived.
Greenwood man arrested after dog starves to death in his home https://t.co/O3jeVg7lhH pic.twitter.com/EP3wkaecJY
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“Both parties failed to take Chuck with them or provide him with food and water,” the prosecutor’s office said in a news release.
“These domesticated animals are helpless and completely dependent on their owners to care for them,” Chief Deputy Prosecutor Joe Villanueva said in a statement. “Crimes like these could easily be avoided if people would just show a little compassion and take their animals to the Johnson County Animal Shelter.”
Under a new Indiana law, someone convicted of animal cruelty cannot own, harbor, or train a companion animal, reported Fox 59.
“Now they can file criminal charges of cruelty, and then restrict the person from owning or keeping animals for a period of time,” Friends of Indianapolis Dogs Outside Executive Director Darcie Kurtz told the broadcaster.
Several counties of the state have ordinances dictating what pet owners cannot do. In Marion County, for instance, dogs can’t be chained or tethered outside between 11 p.m. and 6 p.m. If temperatures reach above 80 degrees dogs need some sort of shade and if it breaches 90 degrees dogs have to be inside.
“People don’t necessarily think dogs are suffering like they are during extreme cold, but they do, especially these longer haired dogs,” Kurtz said.
Animal Cruelty
The effects of animal cruelty 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.”
