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A man from Duncan has been given a lifetime ban on owning animals and a 90-day suspended sentence in a case involving Teddy, an emaciated, chained dog seized by the BC SPCA in 2018.

On Feb. 16, 2018, the BC SPCA received a report of a dog in distress. When the constables arrived at the property they found a medium-sized brown dog on a tether that was only a few inches long, standing in a large pile of mud and feces.

“As they got closer there was an overpowering stench and they realized that, not only was the dog severely emaciated, but his collar was deeply embedded into his neck, causing massive infection,” says Marcie Moriarty, chief prevention and enforcement officer for the BC SPCA.

Moriarty adds that the dog’s head was swollen to two to three times its normal size.

The attending officers used bolt cutters to free Teddy and rushed him to an emergency veterinary clinic.

Despite round the clock care, Teddy succumbed to his critical condition two days later.

The BC SPCA announced charges against Anderson Joe as well as Melissa Tooshley in March, 2018.

The case was so shocking that an online petition was started to ask for the maximum sentence for the couple, which is up to five years in prison, a $10,000 fine and up to a lifetime ban on owning animals.

“This is one of the most profoundly shocking and disturbing cases of abuse we have ever witnessed,” said Marcie Moriarty, chief prevention and enforcement officer for the BC SPCA.

“No sentence will ever bring this poor dog back or address the level of suffering he endured. But our goal was always to ensure that this individual was never allowed to inflict this kind of pain on another animal again, so we are pleased with the lifetime ban.”