Bond was set at $15,000 Friday for 19-year-old Monroe County man arrested after admitting to police he tied an electrical cord around a dog’s neck and left it in the woods to die.
“He said when the dog got hurt, he didn’t know what to do,” Sheriff John Cary Bittick told the AJC. “He tied the dog up in the woods, hoping it would die.”
An animal rescue group, Save-A-Pet, found the mixed-breed dog nearly decapitated in the woods and took it to the Caldwell Veterinary Hospital in Forsyth, Bittick said. The veterinarian’s office reported the incident to the sheriff’s office, which launched an investigation.
WARNING: GRAPHIC PHOTO BELOW
The dog required surgery to repair a severed trachea and other injuries, but is expected to survive, Bittick said.
Investigators arrested Monterion Dionte Davis, of Forsyth, on a charge of aggravated animal cruelty and he was booked into the Monroe County jail, Bittick said. Bond was set at $15,000 for Davis at a court appearance Friday. If convicted, Davis could be sentenced to up to 10 years in prison.
“It is without a doubt the worst case of animal cruelty I’ve ever seen, and I’ve been sheriff 29 years,” Bittick told the AJC.
A picture of the animal, too graphic to be published, depicted the animal’s neck severely injured.
“The picture is what go me fired up,” Bittick said.
Monroe County is located about 50 miles south of Atlanta.
Facebook page for dog, whose name is now HOPE