FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. _ Frustrated with his dog's barking, a Florida man stabbed the animal with a kitchen knife while it was held in a cage, police said.
Michael O'Brien of Sunrise took the heavily bleeding Husky to an animal hospital in Cooper City after a witness insisted, but he told the veterinarian that the dog had run into a glass door, according to a police report. Nala, stabbed in a front leg, needed two blood transfusions and was resuscitated through CPR.
The veterinarian at the LeadER Animal Specialty Hospital was dubious of O'Brien's account when he brought the dog in on Nov. 8, and police said they launched an investigation after an anonymous caller contacted them five days later. O'Brien was arrested Friday.
Police interviewed a man on Jan. 5 who was in O'Brien's Sunrise apartment when the alleged incident occurred. That witness, Nicholas Richards, told police that O'Brien became enraged by his dog's barking and used a kitchen knife to repeatedly jab at the dog, who was inside a crate in the living room, the arrest report said.
Richards said it didn't appear that Nala was injured, but the next morning, when the dog again started barking, O'Brien, 22, grabbed the same knife and began poking Nala, who was still inside the crate. This time O'Brien cut Nala, and blood poured from the wound and pooled on the bottom of the crate, according to the report.
The animal continued bleeding heavily and Richards insisted that O'Brien get help for his dog. Eventually, O'Brien agreed, and the two men took Nala to the hospital, the report said.
O'Brien admitted he stabbed the dog, investigators said. He was arrested Friday and charged with cruelty to animals and was released Saturday evening after posting a bond of $2,500, court records show.
Nala is healthy and in the custody of animal control, according to Sunrise police.
