Man gets six months in jail for stabbing stray dog

AUSTIN (KXAN) - (Update: The dog was eventually euthanized by shelter employees who could not find a home for him. One man called and said he wanted to adopt him, as he had been taking care of it, but never showed up to get him.)

A Travis County judge sentenced an Austin man to six months in jail on Monday for stabbing a stray dog earlier this year at Quail Creek Park .

Judge Mike Lynch found Jose Angel Garcia guilty of cruelty to animal, despite Garcia's claims that he stabbed the dog with a knife in self defense.

On March 6 at 6:24 p.m., police received a 911 call saying a man at Quail Creek Park had stabbed a dog and was chasing people around with a machete. The 911 caller said the "dog was dying." Another 911 call came in from a different person who described the suspect from the dog stabbing call.

An officer arrived on the scene to find a group of people gathered around a man that matched the description the 911 caller gave. That man was later identified as Garcia.

The crowd dispersed, revealing an injured dog who seemed to be in a great deal of pain, according to police reports. The officer said the group insisted that Garcia had stabbed the dog and that when they tried to confront Garcia about the stabbing, he chased them away with a machete.

There was a knife on the ground with blood on it. The knife's brand matched the brand of the sheath Garcia had on his belt. Two witnesses said Garcia had dropped the knife as soon as he saw the police and that he had dropped the machete in a nearby trashcan. The officer took Garcia into custody.

Witnesses said Garcia and other people were playing soccer at the park when Garcia noticed a stray dog walk by the game. The witnesses said the dog was not provoking Garcia in any way, but that the dog was known to loiter around the park. Garcia took out a knife and stabbed the dog near its chest, according to reports. The witness said Garcia wiped his knife clean and put it back in its sheath.

The dog was taken immediately to an after-hours emergency animal clinic on Frontier Trail. The knife wound went three to four inches into the dog's chest cavity, according to the veterinarian. The dog survived the stabbing and was last reported in recovery from his stitches at Town Lake Animal Shelter.

When police searched Garcia, they reportedly found him carrying marijuana. Those charges were not raised in court Monday.