A Florida man is in the Palm Beach County Jail after he allegedly bit a small dog in the face, causing the animal’s eye to come out of its socket.
David Etzel is facing a charge of animal cruelty and is being held in lieu of $10,000 bail.
Etzel’s mother told Palm Beach County Sheriff’s deputies that her son had been drinking Friday and then began teasing her 2-year-old Shih Tzu named Cujo. Etzel allegedly picked up the dog by its throat with one hand. Cujo reacted by biting Etzel on the face, according to an arrest report.
Etzel told his mother he was going to answer the dog’s bite with a bite of his own.
When Etzel moved the dog away from his mouth, his mother noticed that Cujo’s “right eye was hanging out of the socket,” the report said.
The dog was taken to a veterinarian, who advised deputies that the only time she had seen an injury like this was if the animal was attacked by another dog or hit by a car.
Besides the eye injury, Cujo also sustained trauma in his neck area, the arrest report said.
According to dogbreedinfo.com, an average Shih Tzu is about 11 inches tall and weighs between 9 to 16 pounds. Etzel is listed as 6-foot-8 and weighs 385 pounds on his arrest report.
When deputies caught up with Etzel at his residence, he was asleep and appeared to be under the influence of alcohol, the arrest report said. Etzel, 36, confirmed to deputies that he bit the dog, but added that he would never hurt him, the report said.
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