Pet Owner Pleads Guilty To Cruelty To Animals In An Infamous Case

Pet Owner Pleads Guilty To Cruelty To Animals In An Infamous Case Stretching Back To 2007
Wednesday September 24, 2008
CityNews.ca Staff

Cyrus the dog is staying home - and it's not the one of the owner who left him in a boiling hot car in July 2007.

Paul Soderholm became embroiled in one of the most infamous and controversial cases of animal cruelty in recent GTA history when Toronto Humane Society investigator Tre Smith found his 6-year-old Rottweiler inside his parked car, with temperatures nearing 60C.

The dog was nearly dead when the THS agent broke the window and rescued the animal, handcuffing the owner to the vehicle while he took the canine for treatment with no time to spare.

Now, more than a year later, Solderholm has pleaded guilty to one count of cruelty to animals and not providing adequate care for his former pet.

It means Cyrus won't be going back to the man who left him in the car that day. The plea agreement forbids him from owning an animal for at least a year and he's also agreed to give up ownership of Cyrus, who remains happy and well with a foster family.

Soderholm will also have to pay the Humane Society the $3,500 they rang up in medical bills saving the dog's life. The 44-year-old avoided a possible half a year jail term and a $2,000 fine by agreeing to the plea.

The judge in this case found evidence that Soderholm was impaired that day and lacking good judgment. But he didn't deserve to be beaten up.



"[It was] "totally unacceptable, inappropriate and I'm disappointed that you incurred those injuries," the jurist noted. "You have already been punished."



Soderholm claims he's glad Cyrus is with a loving family and agrees it's only fair he's prohibited from dog ownership for a year.



But his lawyer wants you to know there's another side to this story. "Six years ago Soderholm rescued Cyrus from a family who was abusing him," reminds Lorne Honickman. "He loved that dog."



But now his client has signed a contract agreeing never to have any more contact with the dog.

The case became even more notorious because of Smith's actions. While the owner was chained to his car, several angry animal lovers assaulted him as he stood unable to defend himself. Police found him beaten up and bleeding at the King and Jameson parking lot where the drama unfolded.

It resulted in Smith being suspended from his job for a time and questions about animal cruelty and what the law does, doesn't - and should - allow.

Smith claims he wouldn't change a thing that happened that day.

"Do you know what? I said it before. I'll say it again: The events of that day happened, and at that point, I really saw no other way to protect myself from further harm. There's two things I needed to do that day, and it was rescue a Rottweiler named Cyrus and save his life and to protect myself and the Good Samaritans who were helping me. They were being threatened, myself was being threatened. I wanted to go home at the end of the day."

Soderholm winds up with a conditional discharge and a year's probation.

source: CityNews: Pet Owner Pleads Guilty To Cruelty To Animals In An Infamous Case Stretching Back To 2007

i thought the story was pretty weird

That's pretty fucked up. No one should have the right to damage an individuals property just to save an animal. While Soderholm should not have left the dog in those conditions, Tre Smith should not have damaged the property to save the animal.

If I was Soderholm, I would file a lawsuit against the Toronto Humane Society for putting me in a situation to be assaulted by those crazy animal lovers and for damaging my property (the broken window). Only an idiot would put the life of a dog before the life of a human being. Soderholm could have been killed during that assault. He should sue, get a few million dollars, and move to the US and buy another dog. :)