Will Serial Dog-Neglecter Face Ban on Animal Ownership?

PETA Calls for Man Who Allegedly Left Second Dog to Die in a Hot Car to Be Banned From Owning Animals

For Immediate Release:
July 26, 2017

Contact:
Brooke Rossi 202-483-7382

This afternoon, PETA sent a letter to the Middlesex Judicial District state’s attorney requesting that Middletown resident David Beveridge—who is reportedly facing cruelty charges for leaving his dog, Jennie, in a hot car for hours on July 18, where she reportedly died of heatstroke—be banned from owning or harboring animals in the future. PETA points out that dying of heatstroke is agonizing and involves panic, heavy panting, lethargy, loss of coordination, vomiting, internal hemorrhage, and brain damage. Jennie is reportedly the second dog in three years whom Beveridge left to die in a hot car.

“It’s essential that animal guardians never leave dogs alone in a parked car, where temperatures can soar and they can die of heatstroke within minutes,” says PETA Senior Vice President of Cruelty Investigations Daphna Nachminovitch. “If David Beveridge is convicted, PETA is calling on authorities to ensure that he doesn’t have another chance to close the car door on a dog and walk away.”

In its letter, PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way”—writes, “Beveridge has demonstrated a stark unwillingness or inability to meet the basic duties of animal custodianship and should be prohibited from owning or harboring animals if convicted.”

PETA’s letter to State’s Attorney Peter A. McShane follows.

July 26, 2017

The Honorable Peter A. McShane
State’s Attorney, Middlesex Judicial District

Dear Mr. McShane,

Greetings from PETA. This letter concerns a case that your office is handling involving David Beveridge of Middletown, who is reportedly facing charges stemming from the July 18 death of his dog, Jennie. According to news sources, Beveridge informed investigating authorities that he’d intended to drop Jennie off at doggy daycare earlier in the day but had forgotten to do so and remembered only hours later that she was still in his car, which he’d driven to work and parked. The temperatures that day reportedly climbed into the 90s, and Jennie apparently succumbed to heatstroke—an agonizing ordeal involving intense panic, heavy panting, lethargy, loss of coordination, vomiting, internal hemorrhaging, and brain damage. Alarmingly, police reportedly discovered that Beveridge had allowed another dog, Charlie, to die in the same manner several years prior.

If these allegations are accurate—particularly with regard to an earlier such occurrence—Beveridge has demonstrated a stark unwillingness or inability to meet the basic duties of animal custodianship and should be prohibited from owning or harboring animals if convicted (a common provision in such cases). Please know that we stand ready to secure experts to testify if needed.

On behalf of our tens of thousands of members in Connecticut, we thank you for your time and consideration as well as for the difficult work that you do.

Sincerely,

Allison Fandl

Special Projects Manager

Cruelty Investigations Department