A 23-year-old man in Florida has been charged with animal cruelty after allegedly leaving his dog tied to a fence as people were evacuating for Hurricane Milton, according to a press release from the state attorney. The dog went viral after footage showed the dog along Interstate 75 near Tampa standing in water up to its belly, clearly terrified, before it was rescued by a Florida Highway Patrol trooper.
Giovanny Aldama Garcia of Ruskin, Florida, has been arrested and charged with aggravated animal cruelty, a third degree felony, according to State Attorney Suzy Lopez, who made the announcement at a press conference with Florida Gov. DeSantis on Tuesday. Garcia allegedly admitted to leaving his pet on the side of the road “because he couldn’t find anyone to pick the dog up.” It’s not clear why he tied the dog up to a fence in standing water.
Someone reportedly saw the dog there in distress during the evacuations and alerted Florida Highway Patrol trooper Orlando Morales. The dog was originally named Jumbo but has been renamed Trooper, according to the Florida Highway Patrol’s social media accounts.
Trooper has been cared for by the Leon County Humane Society and is currently with a foster family, according to the organization’s Facebook page, which notes “there are thousands of dogs who deserve this same level of attention, care, and advocacy, and hope that Trooper’s situation inspires a kinder future for all dogs.”
“In Hillsborough County, we take animal cruelty very seriously,” Lopez said in a statement. “This defendant is charged with a felony and could face up to five years in prison for his actions. Quite frankly, I don’t think that is enough.”
Lopez said she believes the amount of jail time for this kind of abuse should be even longer than five years, though less than five years is typical for most states when it comes to animal cruelty penalties.
“Hopefully, lawmakers take a look at this case and discuss changing the law to allow for harsher penalties for people who abandon their animals during a state of emergency,” Lopez continued.
Hurricane Milton, which made landfall on October 10 as a Category 3 after weakening from a Category 5 in the Gulf of Mexico, killed at least 28 people, with six people still missing as of Wednesday. Almost four million people lost power in Florida during the hurricane but about 97% of the state has functional power again, according to the Herald-Tribune. That leaves about 369,000 homes in Central Florida still struggling without power.
Hurricane Milton was actually the second major hurricane in a short timespan to hit Florida, coming directly on the heels of Hurricane Helene, a Category 4 storm which followed a different path, heading north into states like North Carolina where it did considerable damage to the western part of that state. At least 92 people are still missing from Hurricane Helene according to North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper. Helene killed 243 people, with 118 deaths in North Carolina alone.
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