Man charged after allegedly strangling dog with zip tie in Monongalia County

CORE, W.Va. (WBOY) — A man has been charged after allegedly strangling his dog with a zip tie in Monongalia County because it “wouldn’t listen.”

On Aug. 7, deputies with the Monongalia County Sheriff’s Department responded to a residence on Henderson Hollow for a humane complaint, according to a criminal complaint. When deputies met with the caller, they learned that Daniel Wichhart, 62, of Core, had come to a residence “on Sunday and asked for a 9mm to put down his dog,” but the called denied the request, deputies said.

The caller told deputies that, the next day, Wichhart was “talking about strangling his dog to death,” according to the complaint.

Deputies found Wichhart and asked what happened to the dog, and Wichhart told deputies he “had to put him down” because “the dog was chasing chickens and roosters and had got away from him about three times” and “wouldn’t listen or come back when called,” deputies said.

Wichhart continued to state that “even when he had crackers, [the dog] wouldn’t come back, so I had to put it down.” He told deputies that he had asked the caller of the complaint “for a 9mm” and offered “50 cents for the bullet,” according to the complaint.

When deputies asked how Wichhart “put it down,” he replied that he “strangled it with some sort of wire or cord,” and deputies returned later warrant and located the deceased dog “underneath a rock and a little bit of dirt” on a hillside, deputies said.

Deputies noted the dog was a “small white terrier” weighing “approximately 15-20 pounds” and “still had a zip-tie around its neck pulled extremely tight,” and that the deceased animal had “bulging and blood covered eyes,” according to the complaint.

Wichhart has been charged with animal cruelty. He is being held in North Central Regional Jail.

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