Charges Dropped Against Amateur Puppy Surgeon
Man can't be charged for stupidity, dog owner contends
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386218 06: Doctors perform castration surgery on a stray dog in a mobile animal hospital bus March 2, 2001 in Bucharest, Romania. The Brigitte Bardot Foundation signed a contract today providing $150,000 to the program in order to sterilize 100,000 stray dogs. French animal rights activist and former actress Brigitte Bardot lobbied against Mayor Traian Basescu's plan to exterminate the city's stray dog population in favor of a sterilization program. (Photo by Kael Alford/Newsmakers)
Broward prosecutors have dropped animal cruelty charges against a man who used dental floss and super glue to stitch up a puppy because there wasn't enough evidence to convict.
So the dead dog and the fact that William Ralph Jones Jr. does not have a license to practice medicine on humans or animals isn't proof enough?
In a memo, prosecutors concluded that Jones Jr. was actually doing the best thing for the dog by trying to become a dog Doogie Howser MD and perform the botched surgery.
"The fact that he did this while she had an injury is evidence to the fact that he was trying to help the dog – albeit in a painful manner," the memo said.
So taking the 2-year-old dog to a licensed vet was out of the question?
Jones was watching Zoe, a hound-retriever mix, for a friend in January when the dog escaped the yard through a fence. The hole in the fence cut Zoe, opening a large gash on the dog's chest.
Jones, 55, decided to operate and used super glue to try and patch up the hole.
That didn't work so Jones went a step further and stitched up the gash with dental floss. Meanwhile, the dog was unconscious from a dose of chloroform Jones gave Zoe.
Needless to say the dog died and the family who Jones was keeping the dog for is outraged.
"I'm just in shock that they're allowing him to get away with this," Danielle Vecchio told the Sun-Sentinel. "They're basically saying that he can't be charged for stupidity
Posted Tuesday, Mar 2, 2010 - 2:29 PM EST
