Lousiana Man Accused of Torturing Dog

Our Cruelty Casework Division deals with reports of cruelty to animals every day, responding to literally thousands of instances of animal abuse in a year by writing to prosecutors, informing judges about the link between animal abuse and violence against humans, and sending out fieldworkers to respond to reports of animals in need. When I come across a case like this one, I honestly don’t know how they manage it.

Here’s the story that was reported to one of PETA’s caseworkers. We’re asking the District Attorney to prosecute this case to the fullest extent of the law, so if you’d like to help us out with that, please click here:

August 11 was Hunter’s last day, and it was a terrible one.

The beagle was the beloved companion of the Evans family in New Orleans. Hunter loved to lie in the sun for hours at a time, got a kick out of sitting by the family pool, and was well known throughout the neighborhood for his sweet disposition. In early August, the inquisitive 6-year-old dog snuck out of the yard while the Evans were painting their fence—Patricia Evans, Hunter’s lawful guardian, was sick with worry, especially after several days passed and the family still hadn’t seen a sign of Hunter. Patricia came home one day to find her father extremely distraught. He told her that they had found Hunter. It didn’t sound good. Patricia’s own account is as follows:

“When I got home, [my friend] was in tears and my father had his head pressed against his desktop; I knew something was wrong. My father then told my brother and I that a man … [named] Christopher D. Alessi had found our dog. We were told by a reliable source that he was trying to ‘take care’ of Hunter. On that Saturday, [Alessi] was spotted at a local Auto Zone with Hunter in the back of his truck. Witnesses saw Hunter try and escape, but [Alessi] hurried to him and began punching him in the face as someone would in a boxing match and threw him with force into the back of his truck. [Alessi] then continued to drive to his home, where the witness followed him. When he got out of the car, he [allegedly] grabbed Hunter by the throat and began choking him to death. The witnesses said he had his hands around his neck and Hunter tried to get his legs [on] the ground, but [Alessi] grew angrier and pulled him harder until he died. The police came almost immediately and arrested him.”

Christopher Alessi will be answering to these charges in court this year. As always with these cases, if he’s convicted we need to make sure that he spends a long time in prison, and that he’s never allowed near animals again.