By Aimee Norton
WSLS10 Reporter
Published: April 8, 2008

She’s a six-week-old Pit Bull puppy, and already scarred for life. Both of her ears were cut off.  Danville Humane Investigator Paulette Dean said the owner of the dog paid someone to cut them with box cutters.

Police found the dog Monday in an apartment building on Audubon Drive in Danville. They were serving a search warrant on unrelated charges. The puppy’s owner, Lorenza Jones, will go to court next week for a custody hearing. Court records show witnesses have already been subpoenaed. But it’s not the first time this has happened. 

“We have known for years that this has gone on - that people, for 50 dollars, will come to your house with a pair of box cutters or a pair of scissors and cut your dogs ears off,” said Dean.

There’s no evidence this dog was going to be used for dogfighting, but Dean tells WSLS this kind of abuse can be tied to it because if the dogs ears are gone, they won’t bleed during a fight.  She says there’s a difference between cropping a dogs ears and what was done to this puppy.

“I don’t understand why they would think that would be cosmetically correct at all and this poor dog is going to have problems her whole life,” Dean said.

If Lorenza Jones is charged and found guilty of animal cruelty, he could face up to a year in jail.

Investigators are still looking for the person who cut the dog’s ears off.  There is a $1,000 reward for information leading to an arrest.  The number to call is (434) 799-5306.