Animal rights group seeks justice for puppy allegedly killed by owner

The man accused of killing a nine-week-old puppy for urinating inside his home was in court Tuesday morning.

31-year-old Jonathan Canda Torres was arraigned and formally charged on Tuesday morning at El Centro Courthouse. A local animal rights group was there as well.

Animal Rights Advocate Shanda Arreola said, “We want to focus the spotlight on animal abuse, animal cruelty and get some justice done.”

Torres pled not guilty to charges of animal cruelty and discharging a firearm within city limits. He’s accused of allegedly shooting 9-week-old puppy Clark for urinating indoors. Police recovered a Smith and Wesson firearm from Torres’ home on March 17 th . He’s free on a $1,500 bail bond.

“Made me mad. I couldn’t believe that somebody would do that. It takes a monster to do that,” Arreola said.

The animal rights group came together after Clark was killed.

“They want the community to start stepping up, to start taking these cases seriously, no slap on the hand. We want action. We want to get them prosecuted,” Arreola said.

Animal Rights Advocate Mikey Garcia said, “We’re begging the courts to stop looking at animal abuse as an animal problem. It’s a society problem.”

They said a dog’s life should be respected.

“You cut it, it bleeds. You hit it, it whines. Just like a child. We’ve had enough of the judges slapping the hands of the people that commit these crimes against animals,” Garcia said.
They said Torres worked at the Imperial County Humane Society at one time and it upsets them he would do something like this.

“What were you thinking? What were you thinking? Unfortunately, animals don’t have a voice. But there are people like us here that do have a voice and we will stand up for animals that need to be stood up for – animals that need to be stood up – for anyone who wants to hurt animals,” Arreola said.

Torres is scheduled back at Brawley Court on April 27 th .