2 Charged With Animal Cruelty After Heat Exposure Kills Pit Bull
Two people in northeast Tuscaloosa County were arrested Tuesday and charged with second-degree cruelty to animals after sheriff's deputies found their pit bull dead from heat exposure in late June.
According to court documents filed Wednesday, animal control officers with the Tuscaloosa County Sheriff's Office traveled to a home on Old Lock Road on June 29th after receiving reports that a dog there was being kept in dangerous conditions.
Responding officers found a young brindle pitbull mix dead in the front yard. According to a deposition filed this week, the dog had no shelter, no shade and no water available.
Deputies said the ground on which they found the dog was 110 degrees Fahrenheit that morning. The dog's body temperature was 106 degrees, deputies swore in the deposition.
The dog's body was given to a local veterinarian, who performed a necropsy and said the canine's cause of death was exposure to excessive heat.
The sheriff's office obtained warrants for two suspects -- 19-year-old Timothy Moore of Duncanville and 25-year-old Rhonda Deese of Tuscaloosa -- and both were arrested Tuesday and charged with second-degree cruelty to a dog or cat.
The charge is a Class A misdemeanor and defined in the Alabama code as depriving a dog or cat of necessary sustenance or shelter in a cruel manner.
Moore and Deese were both booked in the Tuscaloosa County Jail Tuesday and have since been released on bond.
A spokesperson for the Tuscaloosa County Sheriff's Office declined to comment further on the case, citing its pending adjudication.