Daniel Prince
The dog, sick and malnourished, ended up dying
A Union woman is facing an animal cruelty charge for an incident reported Sunday by Animal Control. Officer Kevin Mitchell talked to Pfc Jamison Taylor at the Animal Control Office. Mitchell said dispatch had him go to an address on Springdale Drive about a dog. He spoke with the owner about the dog, and she stated that the dog had been up walking around the day before. Mitchell found the dog and asked the owner, identified as 37-year-old Lateasha Shereka Nelson, if he could take the dog. She allowed Mitchell to take the dog from the residence and took it to the Union County Animal Shelter. Pfc Taylor noted that the dog was covered in blankets with a heater running to warm it up. Animal Control Director White removed the blankets and told Taylor about the treatments she started upon arriving at the shelter. Taylor took pictures of the dog and noted its ribs and other bones were showing due to the dog’s health conditions. He noticed a sore on the dog’s right side, and White stated it was the same as a bed sore that a human might get. He also noticed the dog’s face and eyes seemed to be sunk in. There were no vaccine tags on the dog, and Nelson was unable to provide any documentation that the dog had been given any rabies shot or any other vaccination. Despite the care, the dog died. The animal cruelty warrant states that Nelson allowed a female dog in her possession to become sick and failed to provide medical treatment, causing the dog to die.