A California man was arrested after allegedly pouring piping hot water on an unsuspecting caged dog five times, then justified his actions by claiming he thought it was cold water.
San Bernardino authorities nabbed Enping Qu, 22, on suspicion of animal cruelty.
Teenage eye witnesses captured footage of Qu pouring hot water on his girlfriend’s dog Sophie, who was seen crying out in pain. Sophie’s owner, Qu’s girlfriend, was not around at the time of the incident.
According to KTLA, San Bernardino County deputies were called in to investigate the 16000 block of Butterfield Ranch Road where they saw Qu with a tea kettle filled with hot water on a warming plate.
Sherrif’s Deputy Dan Renear said that the 22-year-old suspect gave “a couple of excuses — ‘I thought I was doing it with cold water; I didn’t mean to; I gave it a bath earlier in the day.'”
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The police had to use their phones to translate the suspect’s explanation, but according to the deputy, “nothing really made sense.”
As for Sophie the dog, Renear described her as looking “skittish and scared” when they first saw her at the apartment.
Sophie was taken to a facility at the Inland Valley Humane Society where she began taking pain-relieving medication to recover from her traumatizing ordeal.
The facility officials revealed that the temperature of the water in the kettle was 129 degrees.
“Given the fact she was burned and she doesn’t know why she was burned, it’s quite traumatizing to the dog, When we picked her up she was definitely in shock,” Inland Valley Humane Society manager James Edward explained.
Furthermore, Edward believes that “it’ll take some time and some love” before Sophie could make a full recovery.
While Qu was later released on bail, authorities stated that they will carry on with the investigation since the suspect could still face felony animal cruelty charges.
Authorities mentioned that Sophie the dog could be returned to the owner, but it will depend on how their investigation unfolds.
