A 23-year-old Westminster man is scheduled to be arraigned this morning for alleged animal abuse due to his 11-month-old German shepherd becoming entangled in the backyard and chewing off part of his own leg to break free.
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Samer Samir Ibrahim is charged with misdemeanor counts of keeping an animal without proper care and animal abuse by a caretaker that, with a conviction, could send him to the Orange County Jail doghouse for a year. Ibrahim's arraignment hearing is scheduled for 8:30 this morning in Westminster.
He is accused of only letting his pet Rocky to remain in the backyard, where the pooch caught fleas and was significantly thinner than an average healthy German Shepherd, according to the Orange County District Attorney's office (OCDA).
Between Nov. 2-8, 2014, Ibrahim is alleged to have failed to properly care for Rocky by allowing the dog's rear right foot to become entangled in the backyard of the owner's home for a period of time, the OCDA says.
“Ibrahim is accused of allowing Rocky's leg to remain entangled, preventing adequate blood flow to the dog's leg, causing Rocky to chew off approximately four to five inches of his leg that was entangled,” reads a statement from prosecutors. “The defendant is accused of attempting to treat Rocky's severe injuries by wiping his injured leg with antiseptic wipes then covering it with a sock and failing to immediately take the dog to a proper veterinary facility.”
On the afternoon of Nov. 9, Rocky was taken to Orange County Animal Care (OCAC) in Orange, where the staff reported the dog's injury to the Westminster Police Department, which launched an investigation.
Meanwhile, OCAC had Rocky taken to Alicia Pet Care Center in Mission Viejo, where the veterinary staff performed surgery on Nov. 12 to neuter the pup and amputate his rear right leg. Rocky's operation and recovery were successful, the OCDA reports.
Coastal German Shepherd Rescue in Placentia found a San Diego couple to adopt Rocky, who by all accounts is receiving a ton of love now.
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OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.