A 49-year-old New Jersey woman pleaded guilty on Thursday to animal cruelty after a golden retriever puppy was found submerged in a cage in a pond near the small town of West Milford, according to the prosecution in Passaic County.
The incident is said to have taken place in 2019, and the reason must have been that the woman feared that she would have to pay expensive veterinary bills, after the puppy she had recently adopted became ill, writes the local newspaper North Jersey.
– PANICKED: The dog owner has admitted that she killed the puppy. Photo: Police
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Found dead
According to the local newspaper, the woman explained that she panicked when the puppy first became ill. Instead of taking it to a vet, she drove to the secluded lake, and lowered the puppy into a cage in the water.
– You knew that the ground was frozen, and it was difficult to bury it, so you decided to lower the dog into the pond? asked the woman’s lawyer during a digital trial.
Has never happened before: – Dramatic change
– Yes, she replied.
According to a Facebook post from the animal protection group Last Resort Animal Rescue the puppy was found “dead and icy cold”.
The organization named the ten-week-old puppy Jenny.
Crying
The woman cried through the 20 minutes making the trial. She admitted that the dog was breathing, “but just lying there” for hours before lowering it into the lake.
“I panicked,” she told the judge.
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When asked why she panicked, the woman’s lawyer replied that she had booked a veterinary appointment for the dog, but that she eventually decided not to go due to concerns about high veterinary bills.
According to the local newspaper, the prosecutor asks the court to impose a prison sentence of 180 days, five years probation, 100 hours community service and continued counseling in mental health. However, the lawyer will seek to have the sentence made conditional, so that the client does not have to serve time.
The woman is no longer allowed to own a dog.
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