DORAL, Fla. – Police arrested a man Thursday after they said he planned on taking his dog home from a Doral animal hospital without treatment after a good Samaritan brought it in with a gunshot wound.
Rafael Pons Jr. told the veterinarian he planned to “leave it to God” and “leave it to Jesus Christ” instead of getting the dog the proper care, an arrest report from the Doral Police Department states.
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The report states that a woman brought the wounded dog to the Doral Centre Animal Hospital, located at 9400 NW 58th St., after finding it lying on the ground and crying in pain outside Pons’ home in the 15100 block of Northwest 29th Avenue in Miami Gardens.
“There was nobody around helping the injured animal,” police wrote.
Police said veterinary staff provided care for the dog and got hold of Pons, 42, over the phone.
The report states Pons “was not clear as to how the dog was injured.”
The clinic manager “kept telling (Pons) that the dog needed emergency surgery and that he needed to tell the doctors if he was in agreement with the surgery or if he wanted the animal to be human(e)ly euthanized since the animal was not going to survive without the surgery due to the severity of the injuries caused by the gunshot,” it states.
On Thursday, the clinic manager called police after Pons showed up at the clinic demanding to take the dog, authorities said.
The report states that the veterinarian explained “numerous times” that they weren’t able to release the dog “due to his severe injuries” and that if they did, Pons would immediately need to bring him to Miami-Dade Animal Services or another medical facility.
Pons “stated to the doctor that he was going to bring the dog home and he was going to leave it to God for his injuries to be cured,” police said.
Authorities said the veterinarian explained to Pons that the dog would die if he brought it home, “since he is not a veterinarian nor has the medical knowledge nor the proper equipment” to treat it.
The veterinarian then told him that she would provide the care for free to save the dog’s life, police said.
But the report states Pons “insisted that he did not want any medical treatment to be done to the dog and was going to bring him home and leave it to Jesus Christ.”
Police said Pons also refused a third option, which was to surrender the dog to the clinic and instead “kept insisting that he was going to bring the dog home and was going to cure the dog himself.”
The veterinarian told detectives that she was “severely concerned” with Pons’ decision and said the dog would die and be in severe pain without proper treatment, the report states.
Police said she additionally noted that when brought into the clinic, the dog had a “severe insect infection” and determined that he “never had the proper care before and was not going to have the proper care” if Pons took him home.
Authorities said, citing case law, they arrested Pons based on the fact that he “was not going to provide the animal with the proper humane care and treatment and was going to unnecessarily torment the animal by not providing the medical care.”
“The defendant was also going to deprive the animal of the medications which were provided by the doctor to diminish the pain since the dog(’)s leg was shattered in pieces,” police wrote in the report. “(He) denied the free treatment and surgery that was offered by the doctor and instead (intended) to make the animal suffer at home with his shattered leg.”
County animal services staff then took the dog, police said.
According to jail records, Pons was being held Friday in the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center on a $20,000 bond on a charge of animal cruelty with intent to injure or kill.
It’s not clear whether authorities suspect that he also shot the dog; Local 10 News has contacted both Doral and Miami Gardens police seeking additional information.