A New York couple said that an Ohio kennel killed their beloved family member, a 3-year-old Rottweiler named Nitro.
Wednesday they testified before Ohio lawmakers, hoping that their story will help strengthen the state's animal cruelty laws.
"Every morning before I left for work, I'd be jealous because she'd be cooking scrambled eggs for the dogs and I'd be lucky to get a cup of coffee as I walked out the door," said Tom Siesto.
Siesto and his fiance Elizabeth Raab's four-legged pets were their world, ONN's Denise Alex reported on Wednesday.
"Our life was taking care of him and his sister," added Siesto
In 2008 the couple took Nitro to "High Caliber K9" that was a training and boarding facility in Youngstown. The place came highly recommended, but a few months into the training the couple was watching a news story of law enforcement raiding the facility.
"My heart dropped and a part of me died that day," Siesto said.
Siesto and Raab found out that 11 dogs were on the verge of dying. Nitro and seven other dogs were starved. Their once 105 pound dog weighed just 45 pounds.
"His nails were split when I saw him," Siesto said. "He was probably trying to crawl his way out of that concentration camp he was living in."
The kennel owner, Steve Croley, received a four-month prison sentence on misdemeanor charges of animal cruelty.
"Under current Ohio law, intentionally hurting a four-legged family member is punishable no more harshly than smashing a mail box or vandalizing a fence," said an animal activist before the criminal justice committee at the Ohio Statehouse.
The couple told lawmakers that now is the time to make animal cruelty in Ohio a felony. Forty-five other states already have it on the book, Alex reported.
"19 dogs died," said Raab. "This isn't a question of I forgot to feed the dogs one night. This was days and days and days of misery."
"I can't tell you how many times I sat and cried wondering how many times Nitro must have picked up and thrown his bowl in the kennel waiting for someone to come and give him water but no one came," Siesto said.
Prosecutors could punish kennel owners with a felony if Nitro's law goes into effect.
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