A Monongalia County man has been charged with felony animal cruelty for torturing or killing an animal after he allegedly strangled his dog to death with a zip-tie at the beginning of August.
Monongalia County deputies were alerted to the incident by neighbors of Daniel Arthur Wichhart, 62, of Core, who called police after Wichhart asked them for a gun so he “put down his dog,” the criminal complaint states.
After denying his request, the neighbor said the following day Wichhart talked about having to strangle the dog to death.
When deputies asked Wichhart what happened to the dog he stated, “I had to put him down.”
Wichhart went on to say the dog was chasing chickens and roosters and had “got away from him about three times” and wouldn’t come back when called “even when he had crackers.”
According to the deputy, Wichhart admitted to asking the neighbor for a 9mm gun and said he offered them “fifty cents for the bullet.”
Wichhart told the officer he ended up strangling the dog with “some sort of wire or cord.”
The deputy obtained a search warrant to search Wichhart’s property for the dog, which was found “on a hillside underneath a rock and little bit of dirt.”
The deputy states in the complaint the dog appeared to be a small white terrier weighing approximately 15-20 pounds.
In the complaint the deputy states, “the dog still had a zip-tie around its neck pulled extremely tight” and the dog had “bulging and blood covered eyes.”
Wichhart was taken into custody and charged with felony cruelty to animals and is being held at North Central Regional Jail on $50,000 bond.
