Vet Tech Arrested for Starving Her Dog

Kimberly Nizato, a part-time veterinary technician from Bellflower, Calif., was arrested April 16 for starving her German Shepherd Dog. The 3-year-old dog weighed only 37 pounds, less than half the weight of a healthy German Shepherd, and was just hours from death when he was rescued by a Good Samaritan.

Animal control officials named the dog “Courage.” They said he had been chained to a tree for at least six weeks, and was eating stones and dirt to survive. “Really the dog was licking and scraping at anything to put in his belly,” Southeast Area Animal Control Authority Captain Aaron Reyes told KABC-TV.

Nizato, the mother of a young child, was fired yesterday from her job at the Southern California Veterinary Specialty Hospital, which according to Reyes had been receiving death threats.

“I would not blame this or any other animal hospital for refusing to assist us in the future after they’ve received death threats for being the employer of a suspect in an animal cruelty case,” Reyes wrote to the Orange County Register. ”This, after the hospital staff publicly stated their shock at the arrest, and confusion as to why the suspect did not use their professional services to care for the dog. They too are victims, now twice, since threats have been leveled against them.” Reyes urged animal lovers to be professional and compassionate. “I cannot emphasize enough the damage that is done when pro-animal people go to extremes,” he wrote.

According to the Courage Lives fan page on Facebook, a small-scale “March for Courage” on April 24 to raise awareness about animal abuse has been cancelled due to the large number of people who wanted to participate.

“Sadly, I have had to cancel the permit and and cancel the walk for our beautiful Courage as this is not what the city, nor the local PD agreed to allow,” wrote Shawn Hollub, creator of the page and a volunteer for German Shepherd Rescue of Orange County (GSROC).

Nizato is currently free on $20,000 bail until her arraignment hearing for felony animal cruelty on May 12 at the Bellflower Courthouse. If convicted, she faces up to five years in prison along with a possible $20,000 fine.

“I hope they throw the book at her, I really do,” Hollub told KABC-TV. Animal lovers do not want Nizato to receive the same slap on the wrist recently given to Glynn Johnson, who was sentenced to only 90 days’ weekend jail time for beating a puppy with a rock so severely that she had to be euthanized.

Meanwhile, Courage is recuperating in the home of a clinic technician who feeds him every few hours and is working on socializing him. On Monday, Dr. Bill Grant of the Community Veterinary Hospital in Garden Grove, Calif., told the Associated Press that although Courage is doing better, it will still be a couple of weeks before it can be determined if his internal organs have recovered and he will be able to survive.

According to updates on the GSROC website, Courage has gained back 10 pounds since he was rescued on April 7. Although he was too weak to stand on his own at first, as of April 18, Courage was “walking a little more each day and eating well.”

More than 75 people have offered to give the dog a safe, forever home when – and if – he recovers.

Grant said that if Courage’s will to live is any indication, the dog will be fine. “There are some animals, just like some people, they just have an incredible will and desire to live and carry on,” he said.

UPDATE: The district attorney now handling this case is Jennifer Bainbridge, whose fax number is 562-929-7626. Bainbridge will decide whether Nizato will be prosecuted. Please make your voice be heard – (nicely) demand justice for Courage!

PHOTOS: gsroc.org, abc7.com