Clearwater Dog Groomer Charged with Killing 3 Dogs
Friday, December 1st, 2006A dog groomer has been charged with killing three show dogs after they went more than a month without food and water, authorities said. A fourth dog, Cagin, was found emaciated and barely alive. Cagin, a standard poodle, was able to break out of his cage, perhaps because it was plastic, and lived off toilet water and boxes of spaghetti he tore open until he was rescued by Pinellas County sheriff’s deputies. Bryant was arrested Wednesday after he returned to his home at 2161 Hillwood Court, and he was charged with four counts of felony animal cruelty, said Pinellas County Sheriff’s Sgt. Jim Bordner. The four animals were left without food and water for weeks, the spokesman said.
Authorities found the dogs Nov. 7 after a neighbor reported a foul smell coming from Bryant’s home. It is believed that Bryant had abandoned the dogs in locked cages without food or water since late September or early October, Bordner said.
Hoover, a giant schnauzer, was not so lucky. A wily animal known for unlatching sliding glass doors, he almost broke out of his metal cage, breaking three of the four clips placed on the door to keep him inside. But he died. So did two other dogs left inside separate cages at the home of Donald H. Bryant – Voodoo and Commando, both standard poodles.
The animals’ owners, who live in Louisiana and North Florida, hired Bryant to take care of the dogs for an extended time, Bordner said. The surviving dog has been reunited with its owner.
Bryant has been released on $40,000 bond.
Bryant’s uncle, Gary Noland, described his nephew as a U.S. Air Force veteran who had been diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic and has heart problems. He was being treated at Bay Pines Veterans Affairs Health Care System.
Bryant often passed himself off as a retired doctor and made enough of an impression at dog shows to convince people he was knowledgeable about grooming and handling dogs, his uncle said. The owners of the four dogs left in Bryant’s care presumed he was going to show them in their stead, Noland said.
“You can’t blame it all on the disease,” he said of his nephew’s mental affliction. “It’s just not human to do that.”
Cagle said she had left her dog with Bryant so Bryant could “hair” the dog, or get its coat long for show. She wanted Bryant to walk the dog in competitions in Florida so Cagin wouldn’t be competing with his brothers and sisters in other parts of the country.
Noland said a water-meter reader had noticed a foul smell coming from the home and presumed there might be the body of a person decomposing inside. The meter reader contacted a neighbor, who contacted authorities Nov. 7, Noland said.
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