Dog sitter kills friend's pet with horrific surgery

Police say a man killed a friend's dog in a coffee-table operation that used a needle, dental floss and Chloroform to keep the flinching pet still.

Sheriff's deputies said the dog, a hound/retriever mix named Zoe, was staying with William Ralph Jones, 55, because the owner could not keep the dog at her home. Last week, Jones dropped the dead dog off at her home, wrapped in a white sheet with a wound sewn together.

Investigators learned Zoe had escaped from Jones' yard through a hole in a fence and suffered a 3-4 inch cut on her chest.



Jones allegedly put glue on the wound. Two days later, Zoe got loose again and the wound re-opened. Deputies said Jones placed Zoe on a coffee table, asked his roommate for a muscle relaxant, and began to sew the wound with a needle and dental floss.

"Zoe yelped and kicked to try to free herself," the sheriff's office said. "To stop Zoe from moving, he soaked a cloth with Chloroform, a liquid formerly used as an anesthetic, and put it on her muzzle. A short time later, Zoe became still and stopped breathing."

Detectives charged Jones with two counts of felony animal abuse. They said if convicted, Jones could get 20 years in prison.

With news video.