A Daytona Beach couple were arrested after one of their dogs was found dead hanging by a chain with another severely emaciated canine feeding on the deceased animal, police said.
Kenneth Thomas, 41, and Lamya Herbert, 21, were each charged with felony cruelty to animals and cruelty to animals. Both Thomas and Herbert were out of the Volusia County Jail, each on $3,000 bail.
Daytona Beach police and animal control officers were called to a home in the 500 block of Alamanda Street on Nov. 7 where the dogs were found, an arrest report states.
A witness reported that the dogs were healthy in February but they deteriorated by October, the arrest report stated.
The witness reported that in April, she found a brown hound-dog mix hanging by a chain over a fence and helped the animal down.
When police responded to the home on Nov. 7, an officer saw a white pit bull mix dead, hanging from a chain around its neck, the report detailed.
The chain from the hound-dog mix was intertwined with the dead dog’s chain, police said.
An animal control officer arrived on scene and found the hound-dog mix feeding on the dead pit bull, police noted in the report.
Daytona couple said dog who died was chained after it escaped
Witnesses told police the hound-dog mix was always tethered but that the pit bull mix roamed around in the yard.
When police spoke to Herbert and Thomas, they both claimed they took good care of their dogs, although police said the animals were found without food and water. The dogs were severely emaciated and infected with hookworm and whipworm, the arrest report detailed.
Herbert said the white pit bull mix was chained after it escaped and was missing for a month. Both Herbert and Thomas also could not provide police with vaccine or city license records for the dogs, police said.
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Daytona couple arrested after dog found dead hanging from chain
Reporting by Patricio G. Balona, Daytona Beach News-Journal / The Daytona Beach News-Journal
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