A North Preston man is facing animal cruelty charges after a dog was found frozen to death on his property two days before Christmas.
Halifax RCMP officers and members of the SPCA responded to the Simmonds Road home on Dec. 23 after receiving a complaint about a dead dog.
The Nova Scotia SPCA’s chief investigative officer told CTV News the female American Staffordshire terrier was found inside a dog house on the property.
David Ross said last month that the animal had been tied up with a chain and was frozen to the ground.
According to an email from the Nova Scotia SPCA, the necropsy results indicated the dog died of severe malnutrition and hypothermia.
“As a result of the investigation and evidence we have gathered, this morning we have charged a person with three counts under the Animal Protection Act,” Ross said Wednesday.
The charges include failure to provide an adequate source of food and water, failure to provide reasonable protection from injurious heat or cold and causing an animal to be in distress.
If convicted, the accused could face a lifetime prohibition on owning or having custody of animals, a maximum fine of $10,000, or six months in jail.
Joan Sinden, who heads a dog rescue society in Spryfield, N.S., hopes the charges send a message to others who mistreat animals.
“It makes me sad that people would feel that dogs don’t need to be inside, that they don’t need that level of care, that they can survive out there, because they can’t,” said Sinden.
The province of Nova Scotia is drafting a new law that officials say deals with tethering dogs outside.
The accused is due in court in March.
With files from CTV Atlantic's Kelland Sundahl
