LEHIGH ACRES, FL — A man was arrested after throwing a 16-year-old Shih Tzu named Xyla in a dumpster behind a Lehigh Acres Family Dollar on Dec. 14, according to a Lee County Sheriff’s Office news release.
Anthony Bellman, 55, of Lehigh Acres was charged with aggravated animal cruelty.
The store’s owner and manager found the dog tied up in a garbage bag with a belt around her neck while they were taking out the trash, according to a probable cause statement from the sheriff’s office.
They freed the dog and the owner brought her to Blue Pearl Pet Hospital for treatment.
Surveillance video footage showed Bellman pull up next to the dumpster around 2:30 p.m. that day and throw a black trash bag in the dumpster before driving away, deputies said.
The vet scanned the dog for a chip and learned her name and age. They also found her listed owners, who had an address in Delaware. Detectives later learned that both were dead.
When looking up relatives of the owners, they learned that Bellman, who lives in Lehigh Acres, was related to them, the sheriff’s office said. They found a car that matched the vehicle in the surveillance video at his home.
When detectives spoke with him, he confirmed that he was at the Family Dollar earlier in the day.
His wife told investigators that Xyla belonged to her parents and she took custody of the dog after her mother’s death. She said Bellman told her he was taking Xyla to the Humane Society to be put down.
During an interview, he told detectives that he planned to take Xyla to be put down, but the last time he had an animal euthanized “it was too sad.”
Bellman said he put a rope around her neck and pulled it, “hoping to snap the dog’s neck or strangle her,” according to the sheriff’s office. “After checking that the dog had no signs of life,” he threw her in the dumpster at the Family Dollar.
“She went through harmful and unnecessary suffering and pain during this time (in the dumpster,)” a vet at Blue Pearl told detectives. “She was also at a high risk of suffocation and heat stroke, and given her possible cardiovascular disease and confirmed severe matting, this would put her at even greater risk of heat stroke and suffocation. Heat stroke and suffocation, strangulation can also lead to secondary organ failure if not treated in time.”
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