The nation?s largest animal right?s organization is urging the Howard County state?s attorney to seek a stiff punishment for a Laurel man charged with poisoning his neighbors? dog.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals asked in a letter to State?s Attorney Tim McCrone that Jack Schroeder, if convicted, receive the maximum sentence of six years in prison for animal cruelty and related charges, undergo counseling and be barred indefinitely from owning or caring for an animal.
“I think it?s a bargain for anyone who is convicted of maliciously and painfully killing a dog,” said Dan Paden, aresearcher in PETA?s domestic animal department. “Poisoning is a traumatic way to die. It?s just as horrendous as beating a dog to death or starving a dog down.”
Last month, Howard County police charged Schroeder, 58, with animal cruelty, poisoning a dog and destruction of property in connection to the death of Amy, a 2 1/2 -year-old Beagle mix.
Amy died in an Annapolis veterinary hospital after lapping up antifreeze and bacon grease from two bowls that her owners, the McSweeney-Cassella family, later found stuffed in bushes that divide their and Schroeder?s property on the 10600 block of Rachel Yates Court in North Laurel.
Paden said he researches dozens of similar cases each month, almost all of them involving antifreeze mixed with some enticing food.
Usually, he said, the offenders walk out of court with suspended jail time and a short probation ? “essentially a slap on the wrist,” he said.
The state?s attorney?s office declined to comment before the case reached the courts.
Amy is the second of the family?s dogs to die in recent years, said dog owner Kathy McSweeney, adding that the first one, Toby, exhibited similar symptoms when he fell ill.
McSweeney said she thought PETA?s recommendations were commensurate with the crime.
“Amy?s death was devastating to my family and to me,” she said.
Schroeder could not be reached for comment. A woman?s voice on his answering machine said he no longer resided there. He is due in court in March.
