Man faces felony for trying to strangle a 16-year-old dog

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A 47-year-old man in Vermilion, Ohio, is accused of trying to strangle a 16-year-old dog. The suspected animal abuser, identified as Raymond Harris, is facing a felony charge because of the passing of Goddard’s Law, which went into effect earlier this month.

The man accused of animal cruelty allegedly tried to choke the elderly dog, named “Mitzy.” On Wednesday, the Vermilion PD K-9 Unit described the situation, “The owner had made the difficult decision to humanely euthanize the dog due to old age and medical issues. The owner had picked up two other friends who came to the home to assist the home owner in locating a Vet in the area to humanely euthanize the dog and began calling Vet’s to check the different costs due to financial constraints.”

The dog’s owner was apparently unaware that Harris was attempting to, quite literally, take care of the situation with his own hands. The police department explained, “While the others were calling Vets, Harris took it upon himself to take the dog outside. After a short time, the owner went to look for the dog and Harris and located them in the back yard. The owner advised that Harris had attempted to choke the dog to death. The owner and Harris began arguing and Harris left the area. The distraught owner then called the VPD.”

Responding officers located the elderly dog who was “unresponsive and barely breathing.” The dog was transported to a veterinarian and humanely euthanized to end her suffering.

Harris was located and taken into custody – he is facing a charge of Cruelty to a Companion Animal, which is a 5th degree felony thanks to Goddard’s Law. Harris was taken to the Lorain County Jail – he has denied trying to hurt the 16-year-old dog, but witnesses to the situation have corroborated the dog’s owners’ statement to the police.

Harris was taken into custody and transported to the VPD. Sgt. Holmes then arrested and charged Harris with Cruelty to a Companion Animal. This charge became a 5th degree felony on 09/13/16 when “Goddard’s Law” went into effect. Harris was then transported to the Lorain County Jail. Harris denies that he caused injury to the dog. The two other witnesses collaborated the statement of the dog’s owner.


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7 COMMENTS

  1. Harris, you are the ultimate POS. Poor Mitzy, how scared she must have been and how she suffered at the hands of that scumbag. Her trip to the Bridge should have been peaceful and with her loving owner at her side. RIP Mitzy. My condolences to Mitzy’s owner – I hope Harris is no longer your “friend.”

  2. I can’t believe that he would want to kill his companion. You just can’t strangle your dog to death. He took it upon himself to do this, with friends around. He choked the dog, by the time police arrived the dog was barely breathing, they took dog to vet, because poor dog was in so much pain, he had to euthanize this poor senior dog. This person needs to spend time in prison for min. Of 5 yrs. For that. Ban on owning animals ever.

    • From how this reads, the man was distraught and trying to figure out how to afford to have mitzy out to sleep. Not everyone had money for pets. However misguided, I don’t think we know all of the facts. Should be something available for something like this.

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