INGLESIDE, Texas — An Ingleside man has been arrested for Animal Cruelty after a dog was found with an open wound inside what appeared to be a chicken coop on March 22.
Ingleside police said in a Facebook post that Animal Control went to investigate the incident after a city inspector saw the dog was unable to move or stand. When Animal Control arrived to the home where the dog was seen, police said the homeowner, 65-year-old Harold Lucas Rodriguez, told them that he had just found the dog and lured it to his home with bacon so he could try and help treat it.
He told officers he thought the dog was in heat because she was "bleeding from her bottom".
When officers went to check on the dog, they saw that she was growling and barking, but was not getting up. They also noticed her hair was matted, and she had a large mass on her stomach. They immediately took her to the veterinarian, who found a severe list of issues, including;
• Extremely matted fur which contained feces and dirt/debris
• Active fleas moving within the fur
• Large open mass on her abdomen, which contained a large amount of maggots
• Underweight
• Snapping at officers as a result of being in pain
• An “odor of death” due to the open mass
• Fur near the hindlegs were wet with what appeared to be a discharge of pus from the infected mass
After further investigation, the Ingleside Police Department found that Rodriguez's initial report was false, and he had actually been the owner of the dog for eight years and had two other dogs. Officers found that Animal Control had previously responded to his home on August 31, 2021 for a welfare check of the same dog. At the time, the dog was healthy and officers found no violations.
Rodriguez was arrested for failing to provide necessary care/medical care for his dog, which resulted in his dog suffering for a lengthy period of time while in excruciating pain.
Police say the dog unfortunately had to be humanely euthanized due to her injuries.
