Niagara man banned from having pets for life
‘The fate that fell on that dog that day was horrendous,’ judge says
A man has been banned from owning an animal for the rest of his life after he tied a dog to a railing and the animal was choked by its own collar when it tried to seek shelter from the bitter cold.
“The fate that fell on that dog that day was horrendous,” Judge Deborah Calderwood said Tuesday in an Ontario Court of Justice in St. Catharines after Robert Ripley pleaded guilty to a charge of causing unnecessary suffering to an animal.
The judge imposed an 18month-conditional sentence — also referred to as house arrest — and banned the St. Catharines resident from owning or having custody of an animal for life.
“Animals are like children, they are the most vulnerable in our society,” the judge told the 29-year-old man.
“As the custodian of this dog, you were responsible for its safety and well being … and you failed that dog miserably.”
Court heard Ripley contacted the Lincoln County Humane Society on Dec. 11, 2019 shortly after 1 a.m. and requested someone come and pick up the dog as he was no longer able to care for it.
Due to the non-emergency nature of the call, and the late hour, the answering service advised him to contact the animal shelter the following morning during business hours.
He told the answering service he was going to abandon the animal, a Belgian Malinois/ shepherd mix, in the parking lot of a business on Welland Avenue.
Assistant Crown attorney Stacey Sheehan said the defendant took the dog to a rear receiving bay area and tied it to a railing.
“Unaware of his surroundings, and trying to seek shelter from the - 5 C temperature, the dog slipped down the area of the receiving bay and, ultimately, it suffocated from the collar being cinched around his neck,” Sheehan said.
Niagara police were called to the area the following morning and discovered the dead dog. An necropsy determined the animal had died from asphyxiation..
Kevin Strooband, executive director of the LCHS, said the lifetime ban on animal ownership was appropriate.
“I am pleased with the court’s decision to protect animals from this abuser, for the rest of his life,” he said.
“He doesn’t deserve the enjoyment of a pet after cruelly killing this defenceless dog.”