Rescuers say a dog that was nearly decapitated and left in the woods last week in Monroe County has died from the injuries.
Police say the man who admitted to police to tying an electrical cord around the dog's neck and leaving it in the woods to die would not face additional charges.
Monterion Dionte Davis, 19, of Forsyth, was arrested on a charge of aggravated animal cruelty and was booked into the Monroe County jail on Friday. Sheriff John Cary Bittick told the AJC that that charge was the maximum Davis could face in the incident. Davis is being held under a $15,000 bond.
Sheriff John Cary Bittick told the AJC Friday that Davis said that when the animal was injured, he didn’t know what to do. "He tied the dog up in the woods, hoping it would die."
An animal rescue group, Save-A-Pet, found the mixed-breed dog 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.
“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.
The dog, which rescuers named Hope, required surgery to repair a severed trachea and other injuries. According to one of her followers, Griff Conti, Hope was having difficulty breathing Thursday as a result of a paralyzed larynx and collapsed trachea.
After realizing that Hope was not going to breathe on her own , Caldwell's staff made the tough decision to sedate the dog in preparation for her to be put to sleep.
"Hope died yesterday in the presence of more love and compassion than she had received in the previous 18 months that she lived," Conti said in an email.
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