A local official in Wisconsin is facing death threats after he allegedly used a leash to strangle a lost and scared golden retriever in front of the horrified good Samaritan who had just rescued the pooch.
Town of Chester Chairman Richard Van Buren, 55, is facing a single count of felony mistreatment of an animal, according to a criminal complaint, after allegedly lifting the dog by its neck with a leash and saying, “This f–king dog is going to die.”
“That was not a mistreatment of an animal; that was murder of an animal. And I’ve seen this and witnessed this,” Shelby Krohn, who saved the dog, told Fox 6 with tears streaming down her face.
“When I close my eyes, all I can see is those dog eyes looking at me while this man is strangling him to death, and I couldn’t do anything. I couldn’t do anything.”
Krohn was going for a walk along Horicon Marsh Tuesday evening when she encountered the petrified golden retriever, who looked dehydrated. She spent 45 minutes coaxing the dog into her car, she told the station.
She took the dog to the Dodge County Humane Society, which told her she needed to take the canine to a local official. The Humane Society shared a picture of the pup on Facebook, asking, “Do you know me?”
Krohn drove to Van Buren’s farm to bring him the dog. The dog allegedly bit Van Buren when he tried to put one of his leashes around its neck. Once it was secure, he yanked the dog by its leash through Krohn’s car window, according to the complaint.
“The dogs’ legs were off the ground and suspended about two feet in the air,” the complaint said. “It was foamed at the mouth.”
Krohn tried to intervene and begged him to stop. He ignored her.
“He suspended the dog up in the air again and at this time it was limp near the cage,” according to the complaint.
Van Buren told Krohn that this wasn’t the first dog he had dealt with violently, according to the complaint.
“Van Buren admitted dealing with aggressive dogs doesn’t usually ‘end well’ and indicated he had dealt with them in the past in his capacity as town chair,” the complaint stated.
“Richard Van Buren said he usually keeps a stray dog for seven days and after that, he ‘takes care of it,’ which I clarified meant he shot it with a gun,” according to the complaint.
The incident aroused strong — and sometimes violent — responses. Facebook banned a post calling for revenge against Van Buren, and the Dodge County Sheriff’s Office issued a stern warning.
“There have been threatening comments made by some community members that must be addressed. Threats to the personal safety and property of individuals are not only inappropriate but may also be illegal,” the sheriff said in a statement.
“While we respect the freedom of speech, that freedom of speech does have limits when it comes to threatening another person’s life, family members, or property.”
The sheriff’s office added that it will make arrests if threats are deemed to be in violation of the law — including those made by social media.
Van Buren returns to court July 31 for a preliminary hearing, court records show.
The Humane Society also urged residents to remain calm and encouraged them to help find the dog’s owner.
“What you can do to help right now is continue sharing the dog’s photo so we can hopefully identify its owner,” it read. “Our hearts are heavy — for this dog, for the kind person that found them, and for everyone in our community who feels the pain of animals we can’t always reach in time.”
The post featured a quote from German philosopher Immanuel Kant that read: “We can judge the heart of man by his treatment of animals.”
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