Here We Go Again: Man Accused of Shredding 4 Puppies

Tuesday, July 17, 2001 - USA

There saw I Sisyphus in infinite moan,
With both hands heaving up a massy stone,
And on his tip-toes racking all his height,
To wrest up to a mountain-top his freight;
When prest to rest it there, his nerves quite spent,
Down rush'd the deadly quarry, the event
Of all his torture new to raise again;
To which straight set his never-rested pain.

Homer's Odyssey, Book XI

TULARE, CA — Just when you thought animal-abusers may have slunk back into the shadows, along sprouts another one just 200 miles away.

In Tulare, southeast of San Jose (where Leo's killer was sentenced last Friday), a man has just been released on $10,000 bail, having been charged with four counts of felony animal cruelty.  Brandon James Ferguson is charged with allegedly dumping four Labrador/Shepherd puppies into an agricultural shredding machine because he "was tired of them making a mess," reports the Associated Press.

The puppies were between eight- and ten-week-old strays who lived at the equipment yard of a contract harvesting company where Ferguson works, Vieira Custom Chopping in Tulare.  Officials received an anonymous phone tip last week that led police to the discovery of animal body parts in a pond, on the ground and in a shredder used to harvest corn for silage.  Ferguson was arrested at the scene.

A fifth puppy and the mother are still alive and being kept at a nearby animal hospital, says animal control officer Daniel Bailey.

As with the now-nefarious dog-killer Andrew Burnett, under California law Ferguson can face between 16 months and three years in jail.

"...Yet here at home, the most heinous act of deliberate cruelty to an animal still brings a maximum penalty of just six months in jail or a $2,000 fine."

"...Canada's animal cruelty laws have not been amended since 1892. The long-awaited rewriting of the section in the Criminal Code, Bill C-15, would increase the maximum time in jail to five years, no longer consider animals as mere property and remove the current limit of a $2,000 fine."

Craig Daniell, the head of investigations for the Ontario SPCA also added, "I think it's encouraging to hear judges in the States are applying the maximum for animal cruelty.  It's something I hope will be duplicated in Canada."

...And even beyond.  Thanks, little dog.

The sweat came gushing out from every pore,
And on his head a standing mist he wore,
Reeking from thence, as if a cloud of dust
Were raised about it. Down with these was thrust
The idol of the force of Hercules...

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