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Dorval man arrested in connection with strangulation of puppy

Alycia Ambroziak
The Gazette
Thursday, July 2, 2009

A 35-year-old Dorval man has been arrested in connection with the strangulation death of a puppy that had been dumped into a garbage bag and tossed into the trash.
“The man was arrested June 17, released on a promise to appear in court and will be charged under  article 445.1 of the criminal code....which deals with cruelty to animals,”  said Station 5 Constable Liliana Bellucci.
She said the case has been handed over to the Crown Prosecutor’s office which will set  a court date at the Montreal courthouse.
On May 7, witnesses saw a man in a vehicle stop along Lakeshore Road  and get out with a garbage bag.
Something about the way he carried the bag aroused their  suspicion  and once the man was  gone, they looked into the bag and found the dead dog.
Bellucci  was not able to say how old the dog was – other than it was a puppy –  nor was she able to identify the breed.
But she did confirm that a veterinarian found the cause of the puppy’s death to be strangulation.
“There were blood flecks in the puppy’s  eyes, which is a sign of strangulation,” she said in an earlier interview, adding that the veterinarian said the puppy showed no signs of illness or disease.
According to Gabriel Boudreault,an  inspector at the SPCA on Jean Talon St. in Montreal, in such cases, article 445 of the Canadian Criminal Code calls for a maximum punishment of five years’ imprisonment when the Crown proceeds by indictment or a maximum eighteen months  imprisonment and/or a $10,000 fine where the Crown proceeds by way of summary conviction. No minimum punishment is cited.