CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Bishop police have arrested a husband and wife, along with the man's brother, on animal cruelty charges in connection with the death of one of the animals under their care.
This comes after police said that animal control had warned the family a week prior, to provide shade for their animals which were left in a metal cage in the South Texas heat.
Bishop Police Chief Edward Day said officers arrived to the 300 block of East 4th Street after a social media post had circulated for several days about the situation.
"The law makes it very clear that when you fail to provide those appropriate food water and shelter, there's going to be consequences, and in this case, resulted in a third-degree felony charge," he said.
Day said that animal control had visited the home a week before the animal accusations came to light. The owners were cautioned to move their dogs out of the heat. However, police said the animals were never relocated from the sun or the metal cage in which they were housed. One of the dogs ended up dead, while the others were seized by authorities.
"We've had a couple of these cases recently. With this extreme heat right now, it's really important that people take care of their animals and bring them in or keep them in a nice cool area out of the direct sunlight give them some good shade," said Bishop PD Lt. Ryan Webb.
Day said he believes the investigation has an airtight case.
"Detectives were able to establish probable cause that the conditions that the dogs were in led to the death of the animal that mainly being the heat and the lack of appropriate shelter and water for the animal," he said.
Day said that the cause will be presented to the district attorney as his office continues to take cases like this one very seriously.
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