Ex-veterinarian pleads guilty to animal cruelty for 'debarking' dogs

Credit: Alexas_Fotos/Pixabay

Credit: Alexas_Fotos/Pixabay

A former veterinarian has pleaded guilty to animal cruelty charges in Pennsylvania after she "debarked" dogs in an illegal procedure.

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Denise Felling, 55, was sentenced Thursday to time served-to-23 months in prison by Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, President Judge Dennis E. Reinaker. She pleaded guilty late last month to eight aggravated cruelty to animals charges, PennLive reported.

Prosecutors said Felling rendered dogs in Quarryville and Kinzers unable to bark in May 2018 by shoving rods into their vocal chambers.

Felling represented herself as a veterinarian to a Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, woman who owned the dogs, but she never obtained a veterinarian license in Pennsylvania, WHTM-TV reported. Felling is from Iowa, where her veterinarian license has since been revoked.
Felling had been in the Lancaster County jail since being extradited from Iowa.
The charges on which Felling was prosecuted resulted from a 2017 overhaul of Pennsylvania's animal cruelty laws.

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