Ottumwa, Iowa – This week, an Iowa man pleaded guilty to charges stemming from his abandonment of an elderly dog in an Ottumwa dumpster. According to KTVO News, 63-year-old Virgel Dean Johnston, Jr. pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor charges for animal neglect and abandonment of a domestic animal.
Johnston Jr. was caught on surveillance video on the morning of August 27 throwing something into a dumpster behind a business. Good Samaritans discovered the object was a 15-year-old Chihuahua named Tank.
Tank is currently in the care of the Heartland Humane Society, who wrote:
And somehow, after everything Tank has endured, he is still incredibly sweet.
He greets you with a happy tail and a toothless smile. He is happiest when he is held. He has every reason to be frightened and distrustful, yet he continues to show us an incredible resilience that SO many shelter animals possess.
They added:
He is safe now.
He is being cared for.
He is being loved.
And we have promised Tank that being thrown away will not be the thing that defines the rest of his life.❤️
Johnston Jr. will spend 60 days in the Wapello County Jail.
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