Dog Hanging Witness: I Was Horrified

Miami-Dade man arrested for animal cruelty after dog survives cruel conditions

The photos tell a cruel story of two neglected animals, a brown doberman pinscher and a Dalmatian, struggling to stay alive as a rope is wrapped tightly around their necks outside a Miami-Dade home. 

"I was absolutely horrified," Patty Rhodes recalled. She snapped the photos from her backyard Sunday evening. "Whatever they were tied with was so tight, was around their neck so tight, if they tried to sit down, if they tried to lay down, they were actually hanging themselves."

Rhodes witnessed the doberman eventually die.  At that moment, she says Jorge Guzman-Zubiaur arrived to un-tie the limp body from the tree. Before he could get in his car, Patty says she blocked the suspect in with her car and called police. 

Miami-Dade police arrested the 49-year-old in the driveway of the abandoned home, located at Southwest 281st Street and 160th Avenue.

Guzman-Zubiaur appeared in bond court Monday morning charged with animal cruelty. He was out on bond for a previous drug charge.

It was Rhodes' 15-year-old son, Kenny, who happened to see the disturbing scene playing out from the balcony. 

"I was going to go down the stairs, I heard the dog whining, I looked over, and they were both tied up to the tree,"  he said

Neighbors like Alonza Jenkins said the dogs had been neglected at the home for at least six months.

"It was a grow house at one point. I don't know why the dogs were here if it was a grow house that was busted. Why were the dogs here?"  Jenkins said.

The Dalmatian survived and was brought to the Miami-Dade County Animal Shelter, weak and malnourished. Rhodes plans to adopt the 11-year-old dog and keep an eye out for suspicious activity.

"What do you do to stop this? Our neighbors have to band together and they have to warn our neighbors and watch what's going on," Rhodes said. "And we have to let people know, if they're going to move here, people are going to watch them."

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