Grapevine man charged with animal cruelty after starved dog found behind hotel dumpster
A 36-year-old man has been arrested after a dog in his care died of starvation, Grapevine police said in a news release Tuesday.
Vanadus Green is charged with cruelty to a non-livestock animal, according to the release.
A Grapevine Animal Services officer responded to the Super 8 hotel near Texas 114 on Jan. 26 to investigate a call about a dog near the dumpster. The officer found a male dog lying unresponsive on the ground. The dog was “severely emaciated,” according to Green’s arrest warrant affidavit, and died at a veterinary hospital.
A necropsy determined the dog had died from starvation. Bone marrow extracted from the animal’s femur showed his body fat was around 10%, the affidavit says, while the normal range is 65-98%. The dog also had a wound on his head and various injuries to the chest cavity.
Investigators learned what hotel room the dog came from, and a detective with the Grapevine Police Department reviewed surveillance video of the area.
The video shows a man dragging a dog down the hallway on a leash. Inside the stairwell, the man pauses to “’peek’ around the corner to see if anyone was around,” according to the affidavit, and then drag the dog down a flight of stairs and through a door. In the hotel parking lot, it appears the man is trying to pull the dog upright, but the animal collapses on the ground instead.
The resident of the hotel room initially told police she didn’t know anything about a dog and refused to give the name of the man who was occupying the room with her, according to the affidavit. Later she admitted the dog belonged to her boyfriend, Vanadus Green.
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Green told police he’d found the dog lying under some bushes next door to the Super 8 around three or four weeks prior to the animal’s death. The dog was in poor condition, and Green “thought he could ‘nurse’ it back to health,” the affidavit states. He said he was treating the wound on the dog’s head with antibiotic ointment. Green’s girlfriend showed police a bag of half-eaten dog food and a bottle of antibiotic ointment.
According to the affidavit, Green told investigators the animal didn’t respond to his care and refused to eat. His girlfriend told him he couldn’t keep the dog at the hotel anymore, so he took the dog outside and “thought it would be safe near the dumpster until he could come back and check on it,” he told police.
The veterinarian who examined the dog after his death told police the dog’s injuries appeared to be less than one week old. The low percentage of body fat indicated the animal had been starving for more than three or four weeks, according to the affidavit.
“Due to the overall injuries and the fact that the dog was starved to death, it is believed that the dog suffered immensely until the dog took its final breath,” the affidavit states.
Officers obtained a warrant for Green, and he was arrested Feb. 28, according to the news release.
“Grapevine Police thank the person who first reported concern for the tortured animal, and for the immediate help of employees at Super 8,” officials said in the release.
Anyone who believes an animal is in need of help is asked to reach out to their local animal services. Grapevine Animal Services can be contacted at 817-410-3370.
