Charles Bell, the SC man who was charged with animal cruelty after locking his black dog in a wire crate and leaving her in the sun to die in his yard, entered a guilty plea in court yesterday. He received a fine of $1092 and must serve 30 days in jail – but only on the weekends. In addition, he must surrender his other pets to animal control. This will be the second time in two years Mr. Bell has been ordered to surrender his dogs to AC. I guess we’ll stay tuned for the next time.
By way of explanation for his actions, Mr. Bell offered the following:
When Bell was asked to give his side of the story in court, he told the judge he is, in fact, an animal lover and he left his 15-year-old son in charge of the dog’s care.
Bell told the judge that he and his son noticed that the dog kept escaping from its kennel, so they placed it in the crate at certain times throughout the day.
This sounds as if they had some sort of rotational plan in place during the day but there is no evidence of that so far as I’ve read. Further, if part of your daily rotation includes leaving a dog in a crate in the sun to die, I’d have to say your plan is faulty Mr. Animal Lover.
After the proceedings, Mr. Bell told a reporter, “I can only be judged by God and only he knows the truth”. So there’s some “truth” to the matter of Mr. Bell cruelly causing the death of his dog and only God knows it? Ooh- sounds mysterious. And lame.