A 21-year-old Regina man who admitted to brutally beating his dog will serve his sentence in the community.
Nelson Menard earlier pleaded guilty to causing unnecessary suffering to an animal.
Menard was charged in March after a neighbour heard the dog yelping and captured video of him hanging the animal by her leash and repeatedly kicking and hitting her.
The young husky-shepherd cross, named Kindle, suffered a dislocated hip in the incident. She had to undergo surgery and spent more than a month in a veterinary hospital.
Court heard Menard became frustrated after he came home and found that Kindle had defecated in her kennel. A lawyer for Menard said his client took out that frustration on the dog.
He added that Menard is remorseful, and has already paid a public price for his crime, which was widely reported by local media.
On Thursday, a judge accepted a joint submission of a six-month sentence, to be served in the community. Menard also must pay nearly $2,600 in restitution to the Regina Humane Society, and was ordered to take anger management programming. In addition, he will be banned from owning animals for a five-year period.
Speaking to reporters outside the courthouse, Diana Bishop, an animal protection officer with the Regina Humane Society, said the group had hoped Menard would get a stiffer penalty.
“Considering the amount of damage that was done to this dog, both physically and emotionally, we were hoping for a stronger sentence,” she said.
“We were hoping for some actual jail time or a lengthier sentence.”
She says Kindle has since been adopted by a loving family and is said to be recovering.
“I think in the environment that she’s in right now, she definitely will (fully recover),” Bishop said.
“I think it’s going to take a very long time…but she’s a very strong, resilient spirit, so I do believe that she will.”
