A 34-year-old Las Vegas woman is facing animal cruelty charges after 2 dead dogs were found in a yard in the 600 block of Bowman Ave., which is near H Street and West Lake Mead Boulevard.
According to the arrest report for Jael Feliciano, she called Animal Control around 2:40 p.m. July 20 and told them that she left her dogs outside for 2 hours and they were dead.
Feliciano told an animal control officer that she tethered the two dogs -- Tiny and Buster --- to a chain-link fence and left at around 9:30 a.m. Tuesday.
She claims she returned at 2:30 p.m. and found the dogs had died.
The animal control officer noted that the dogs had dug holes and their paws, mouths and noses were caked in dirt. Additionally, there was blood on their noses.
Dogs, when overheating, will become desperate for water and will instinctively dig holes. According to the report, the mud on the dogs were textbook actions by an overheating dog.
Police also spoke to a woman who was Feliciano's half-sister.
She said that she arrived at the home shortly before 11:30 a.m. and saw two dogs that she did not know. She said she called her half-sister repeatedly but was unable to reach her. She also said she called the Animal Foundation and animal control when she realized the dogs were in distress but was unable to reach anyone.
The animal control officer called the Las Vegas police. During the investigation, a police officer took two readings of the ground temperature where the dogs were found. The first reading showed 159 degrees and the second reading was 162 degrees.
Feliciano agreed to talk to the police and told them the dogs belonged to her mother. She also told police that when she left the dogs, they had shade and she left them with food and water.
She is facing two counts of willful/malicious torture of an animal and four misdemeanor counts of torture/injuring/abandoning/starving an animal. She is being held at Clark County Detention Center and is scheduled to appear in court on July 21.
