An Odessa woman was arrested Tuesday night after her pit bull was found chained up and dead.
According to an Odessa Police Department report, patrol officers and animal control officers received an animal cruelty call around 9:40 p.m. Tuesday from the 1400 block of North Jackson Avenue.
When officers arrived, they found a dog in rigor mortis chained to the base of a dog house and a water bowl with a dry layer of dirt in it, the report stated.
Nearby, the officers found several holes they thought had been dug by the dog in an attempt to keep cool. They also noted the dog could not have reached the shade of a nearby tree because of the chain, according to the report.
Christine Arnold, 43, told officers they usually fed and watered the dog around 9:30 p.m. every day and the last time she knew that had been done was 24 hours earlier, the report stated.
She further stated the dog would commonly get inside its water bowl to keep cool, often polluting it and making it undrinkable, but they hadn’t yet replaced a kiddie pool that had blown away in a wind storm, the report stated.
Arnold thought the temperature had reached 108 degrees Tuesday, the report stated. Tuesday’s high was 101 with average wind speeds of 10 mph.
Arnold was arrested on the third-degree felony of cruelty to non-livestock animals. It’s punishable by two to 10 years in prison. She was released from the Ector County jail after posting a $6,000 surety bond.
