Getting Away With Torture
Wednesday, August 8, 2007
Cross-posted from The Ohio Twenty-first
At left is a two-year old dog named China. Take a look at her neck. That isn’t a collar. It’s the wound left behind after a chain was surgically removed. At right is Otis Clark of Somerville, Ohio. He kept China chained–which was perfectly legal since Ohio has no law forbidding or even restricting the practice. He did it for so long and paid so little attention that the chain actually became embedded in her neck. More than an inch deep.
Eventually someone rescued China and took her to Butler County’s Animal Friends Humane Society. Clark claimed to have become aware of China’s condition but lacked the money to take her to a veterinarian. China had emergency surgery. When the chain was removed, the stench was so powerful that several volunteers had to leave the room. Clark, of course, was cited for animal cruelty. WLWT-TV of Cincinnati took it for granted that China would need a new home and gave out the humane society’s phone number.
Wrong answer. Clark pleaded no contest, was convicted of animal cruelty, and was placed on probation. He nonetheless petitioned to get China back. Amazingly, Judge Robert H. Lyons granted Clark’s request. Maybe he bought the contention of Clark’s attorney: “I understand that they’re upset about it, but I think my guy loves his dog. That’s what he told me, ‘I love that dog.’”
Clark has a weird idea of what it means to love.
Judge Lyons did impose a list of conditions. And boy, are they ever strict! See for yourself:
