Kimberly Howell Convicted In Dog Duct-Taping Incident
Georgia woman Kimberly Howell attracted the wrath of social media when she posted a photo of her dog’s snout duct-taped closed. Now she’s facing discipline via the criminal justice system. ID’s Crime Feed reports that the woman was also given a sentence that has sparked debate on whether it was too harsh or too lenient.
The 25-year-old Georgia woman was given a 45-day suspended sentence along with 18 months of probation. She was also sentenced with community service, which would require her to work with animals — a curious detail since the woman was reportedly cruel to her own dog. Kimberly Howell appeared in court to argue in her defense, claiming that she had only wrapped her dog’s snout with duct-tape as a “joke.”
The woman also claimed that she loved her dog like one of her children, which the judge argued with the question, “would she duct-tape her own daughter’s mouth shut in any similar situation?” She answered “no” to this line of questioning.
The judge overseeing this case did not accept her explanation, taking just a few minutes to convict her of animal cruelty. The judge also declared that what she did was “a callous act,” which led to the abuse of an animal. So slapped her with the sentence she was ultimately given.
The New York Daily News reports that this isn’t the only time Howell has been in trouble. In fact, the woman admitted herself that she is entangled in a case involving claims of child abuse. The details of these child abuse allegations aren’t known, but the Georgia woman reportedly posted a rant in which she declared that she wasn’t abusing her daughter.
“Someone will realize I wasn’t abusing my daughter. I may forget things sometimes and be thoughtless or even stupid if that’s what you want to call it, but I love my daughter and my dog beyond belief.”
On social media, people are reacting to her case — along with her sentence — in large numbers. Most people are expressing complete outrage with what the woman has been convicted of doing. Very few people are using social media to actually support what Howell did.
There are more people in the world who think that duct taping a dog’s mouth shut is okay. https://t.co/u1HVWswoyf pic.twitter.com/xdUCnT3z2B
— Farhan Jamal (@FaroToba) December 4, 2015
@Freja_Petersen @dodo.. no strong enough deterent to stop scum doing this thinking this is funny.. treat her the same as the other one.
— Elaine (@harland_pa) December 4, 2015
@Freja_Petersen @dodo it will only be funny when someone does that to the B1tch
— natalia (@sashablue777) December 4, 2015
@autoarmadillo @TanyaInAlameda people are starting to care about animals to much now if the dog killed the baby
— Anon2.5K (@AnonRetweetsz) December 4, 2015
@DavidWhisenant if a man duck taped her mouth it would likely end in a crime
— Mamakajiwin (@AngelDevil1166) December 4, 2015
Kimberly Howell isn’t the first person to get in trouble for duct-taping an animal’s mouth shut.
Katharine Lemansky was also charged with animal cruelty, after she posted a photo of her dog’s snout, duct-tape, to social media. The photo of the dog went viral, leading to the charges being pressed on the North Carolina woman. A statement released by Cary Police Department summed up their feelings on the incident.
“Taping the dog’s muzzle shut was a terrible decision on Ms. Lemansky’s part, and charging her with animal cruelty under North Carolina law was the right thing to do.”
Do you think the sentence Kimberly Howell was given was too lenient, or was it too harsh?
[Photo: Rowan County Sheriff’s Office]
