Dog's Leg Amputated, Owner Arrested: Updated With Photos

RACINE COUNTY, WI — A 46-year-old Racine County man has been arrested and charged with mistreatment of animals after police say his white husky was injured for so long that the dog's leg had to be amputated. Patch.com has updated this story with photos which have been released Friday by the Caledonia Police Department.

According to a criminal complaint filed in Racine County, Police were dispatched to the home of Angel Gutierrez-Garnica on Highway 38 on Feb. 16 on a report of a dog at large.

When police arrived at Gutierrez-Garnica's home, the responding officer reported that the dog, an 8-month-old white husky named Victoria, had a homemade bandage made out of black duct tape, a broken piece of wood and a sock wrapped around its right paw, the criminal complaint stated.

According to police, when officers spoke with Gutierrez-Garnica, he said the dog broke her leg by climbing onto a garage roof and then jumping off.

Police said that Victoria was missing a toenail on her paw, and there was an open sore from her attempting to walk on her injured leg. Victoria was taken to the Wisconsin Humane Society for treatment, where staff told police that the dog would likely have to have her leg amputated.

Three days later, on Feb. 19, police reported that they went to the Wisconsin Humane Society to follow-up on Victoria's condition. Humane Society staff told the officer that the dog did not break her leg during the jump, but suffered extensive nerve damage to her right front leg in the fall. Due to the severity of the nerve damage, the veterinarian decided that the leg would be amputated the following day.

According to the criminal complaint, the veterinarian told police that Victoria dragged her leg for so long that it ground down the fourth toenail to the point where it was nonexistent. The vet also told police that there was muscle wasting in the right leg of the dog and the spine of the scapula was prominent.

Police also noted in their report that the vet said that Victoria had been dragging her foot on the ground for so long that it resulted in chronic wounds to the paw, and that the original injury likely happened 3 months ago.

Gutierrez-Garnica is being held in the Racine County Jail on a $1,000 cash bond. His preliminary hearing is scheduled for March 29, according to court records.

Images via Caledonia Police Department, Published With Permission