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Texas Man Arrested For Animal Cruelty After Allegedly Taking Dead Dog For A Walk
William Rose allegedly told police that he wanted to take his dog for a walk one last time before throwing him in the dumpster.
A Texas man who initially claimed that his dog had died from depression has been charged this week with animal cruelty for allegedly strangling the pooch to death.
William Rose, a 40-year-old San Antonio resident, was arrested Monday for cruelty to non-livestock animals, online jail records show. The alleged incident occurred over the summer, according to local outlets.
An unnamed neighbor told police that they observed Rose on August 8 carrying his dead dog by the neck. When the neighbor approached him, Rose allegedly claimed that his dog, “Rocky,” had died, but that he was taking him for a walk one last time, KTXS reports. The neighbor then reportedly saw Rose place the dead pet, with a wire wound around its neck, in a shrine that was erected behind the man’s apartment. This is what prompted them to alert the authorities, according to the outlet.
When police and representatives from Animal Care Services spoke to Rose about the situation, he claimed that his dog had died from depression, according to an affidavit obtained by KTXS. However, the results of a necropsy completed the following month suggested that the animal died from asphyxiation caused by strangulation.
Authorities confronted Rose again about the incident in early September while he was in custody at the Bexar County Jail for an unrelated incident, KSAT reports. Rose told a detective that on the day in question, he’d taken his dog out for a walk without a leash; he said that when the property’s security guard instructed him to leash the dog he began holding the dog by the collar to the point where the animal’s front paws were off of the ground for most of the walk. The walk lasted 20 minutes, an affidavit obtained by KSAT states.
Rose said that by the time he and Rocky got back to his apartment, the dog was having trouble breathing, and when he left and later returned, he found the animal dead.
Rose allegedly told authorities that he wanted to take Rocky for a walk one more time before “[throwing] him in the dumpster,” KTXS reports.
Rose was released from custody on Tuesday after posting a $25,00 bond, according to the outlet.
