Man Charged with Animal Cruelty After Allegedly Strangling Dog with Zip Tie in Monongalia County

CORE, West Virginia — A man has been accused in Monongalia County for allegedly strangling his dog with a zip tie because it “wouldn’t listen.”

According to a criminal complaint, deputies from the Monongalia County Sheriff’s Department arrived to a residence on Henderson Hollow on August 7 to investigate a humane complaint. When deputies spoke with the caller, they discovered that Daniel Wichhart, 62, of Core, had been at a property “on Sunday and asked for a 9mm to put down his dog,” but the caller declined the request, authorities said.

According to the complaint, the caller informed deputies that the following day, Wichhart was “talking about strangling his dog to death.”

Deputies spotted Wichhart and questioned what happened to the dog. Wichhart told deputies that he “had to put him down” because “the dog was chasing chickens and roosters and had gotten away from him about three times” and “wouldn’t listen or come back when called,” according to deputies.

Wichhart went on to say that “even when he had crackers, [the dog] wouldn’t come back, so I had to put it down.” He told deputies that he had asked the complaint’s caller “for a 9mm” and offered “50 cents for the bullet,” according to the complaint.

When authorities questioned how Wichhart “put it down,” he stated he “strangled it with some sort of wire or cord,” and deputies returned later and found the slain dog “underneath a rock and a little bit of dirt” on a slope, deputies said.

According to the complaint, the dog was a “small white terrier” weighing “approximately 15-20 pounds” and still had a zip-tie around its neck stretched excessively tight. Additionally, the lifeless animal had “bulging and blood-covered eyes.”

Wichhart was accused of animal cruelty. He is being imprisoned at North Central Regional Jail.

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