Who is Brandon Jerold Smith? LA dog owner hangs pooch from fence and sets it ablaze
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: A dog owner is behind bars after he allegedly hung his pet dog from the fence and lit her on fire. She succumbed to “severe burns all over her body" days later.
On August 22, 24-year-old Brandon Jerold Smith was caught on CCTV cameras walking down a sidewalk in Los Angeles with his corgi named Hennessy. According to the Los Angeles Times, prosecutors have alleged that Smith hung his seven-year-old pet from the fence and doused her in lighter fluid before setting her ablaze.
Last month, MEAWW reported on the case against Tonya Fea, who drowned an adopted puppy since she couldn't afford the veterinary bills. Earlier in July, Luis Antonio Campos was arrested in Texas after a viral video of him abandoning a huskey emerged. The same month, an even more disturbing story emerged of a New York woman attempting to behead her pet dog with a sword.
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Following the burning incident, poor Hennessy was taken in by a south LA animal shelter, where staff realized she was extremely ill and therefore reached out to the non-profit organization A Purposeful Rescue. “She has burns all over her body. Every single part," the shelter's founder Hillary Rosen wrote on Facebook. “Inside her mouth, ears, paws stomach, back, neck, and nose. Her bloodwork is concerning (worried about internal organs specifically her kidneys).”
A veterinarian performed blood tests and realized Hennessy was in far worse shape than they initially thought. She was reportedly going into organ failure due to the extent of her burns, and vets were especially worried about her kidneys. Rosen said after consulting with the vet, her group took Hennessy to ACCESS Specialty Animal Hospital in Culver City for dialysis treatment. Unfortunately, she succumbed to her wounds during the second round of treatment -- six days after the horrific incident.
Smith was taken into custody on Saturday, September 4, and faces one count of animal cruelty and another of arson. He is reportedly being held on a $100,000 bond and the motive behind the attack is yet to be established.
Last month, we reported how workers at a farm that supplies 'humanely-raised' turkey to retailers like Whole Foods were videotaped abusing the animals, with one man even mimicking masturbation with a dying bird. News outlets reported on August 12, that the staff was shown stomping, kicking, and punching birds in a horrifying undercover film taken by a worker who was discreetly moonlighting for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). It was shot at New Oxford, Pennsylvania, at Plainville Farms, which also supplies Publix and Harris Teeter. After being severely injured by the employees, the birds were recorded convulsing in anguish and allowed to die on the concrete floor of a sharply lighted barn.
MEAWW has in the past reported on several horrific instances of animal torture. In April last year, Tennessee linebacker Aaron Beasley was suspended for brutally abusing his girlfriend's roommate's six-month-old kitten, and 'locking it in a toilet bowl'. A sadistic Iowa man, David Goodburn adopted rescued dogs from a shelter only to let them starve to death in a locked apartment.