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B.C. man pleads guilty to beating blind, partially deaf dog

Dog was adopted into a ‘wonderful home’ after the attack
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Bear, Bouvier des Flandres, in her new home after recovering from the attack. (BC SPCA)

WARNING: This story contains graphic details involving animals.

A Vancouver man has been banned from owning animals for seven years and hit with a $4,000 fine after he was seen on camera slamming his girlfriend’s disabled dog into the ground, sparking a B.C. SPCA investigation.

According to court documents, John David McCordic pleaded guilty on Aug. 10 to causing an animal to continue to be in distress under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, as well as as breaching his duty to not cause or permit the animal to be, or to continue to be, in distress.

The SPCA said the charges dated back from a May 17, 2016, incident in Vancouver where footage from an underground parkade in East Vancouver showed McCordic lifting the dog into the air and slamming her onto the concrete, as well as stomping her paws and head.

“I think one of the cruelest parts of the video is that he would start to pet her and she would be encouraged and would come to him, only to have the beatings begin again,” said the SPCA’s Eileen Drever.

The dog, a Bouvier des Flandres named Bear, was 11 years old at the time of the attack and was already partially blind and deaf.

The SPCA seized the dog the next day where she underwent emergency treatment for her injuries.

Drever said Bear was adopted after she recovered.

“She lived an amazing life surrounded by love for four years, before she passed away peacefully earlier this year at the age of 15,” she said.

ALSO READ: Man arrested after slamming pit bull into Vancouver sidewalk


@katslepian

katya.slepian@bpdigital.ca

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