What Happened To Daisy: SPCA Report Says Groomer 'Grossly Negligent'

WARREN, RI — In a way, it's too hard for people to believe. A healthy 8-year old family pet went to a groomer and died. Patch readers have commented on the story to express both sympathy for the pet's owner and astonishment. "From grooming?" one reader wrote.

The dog died just feet from the groomer in charge, suffocating when a slip lead leash choked her to death.

A report from the Rhode Island Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, released after a public records request from Patch, concludes the groomer was responsible for the death of Daisy, a maltese and shih-tzu mix. Police have declined to press charges for animal cruelty, though, saying they lacked enough evidence for a conviction.

Beth Iiams, of Bristol, Daisy's owner, had asked the RI SPCA to investigate after the dog died, on May 31.

"It was an awful thing that didn't have to happen," she said.

As she began to ask questions about groomers and the laws in Rhode Island, she realized there really aren't any regulations here. Anybody can open a grooming business. And if the dog dies, as Daisy did, the law makes it difficult to hold anybody responsible. She would like to see that change. She would like Daisy's loss to mean something.

The RI SPCA concluded the groomer, David Russell, of Warren, was to blame for the death.

"Based upon the information provided, I believe Russell's actions were grossly negligent directly resulting in the death of 'Daisy,'" Rhode Island SPCA's animal cruelty officer, Joseph Warzycha, wrote in a report.

Patch contacted Russell and asked if he wanted to comment.

"Not at this time," he said.

According to the information in the RI SPCA's report, Daisy died at The Dirty Dog groomer after she was left on a bench and tied to the wall with a slip lead leash around her neck. Two other dogs, both her family's pets, were loose and running around at the time. The groomer said he walked away from Daisy "to prepare the bathing tub."

The tub, according to Warzycha, was "approximately 12-15 feet away from the bench and there was a clear line of sight." But the groomer did not look over and keep an eye on Daisy. He told the animal cruelty officer he did not see the dog when she fell off the bench.

The leash tightened around her neck and hanged her. According to two veterinarians the RI SPCA consulted, it took between two and six minutes for Daisy to die.

When Russell did notice Daisy, he said she was dangling from the bench and unresponsive. By the time he untied her, she wasn't breathing. Russell told Warzycha he did attempt to resuscitate Daisy. But when asked if he had any training in pet first aid or cardiopulmonary resuscitation, he said no.

After a dog named Ollie died in March while being groomed at a Middletown Petco, House Majority Leader K. Joseph Shekarchi (D-Dist. 23, Warwick) began trying to change the state law to increase protections for pets.

The RI SPCA found no evidence that Ollie, a pug, died because of any actions by Petco employees but the proposed law would increase awareness of pets who are distressed and require dog groomers to be licensed and properly trained before they can work with animals. Shekarchi had introduced a similar bill in 2013, but the legislation failed to pass the General Assembly. After hearing about Ollie's death, he reintroduced the legislation (2017-H 6054). Iiams is asking her friends and pet lovers to support the effort.

Daisy was a member of the family, she said. She just loved love.