Man charged with animal cruelty after allegedly throwing girlfriend’s rabbit 20 feet
A man was arrested after being accused of throwing his girlfriend's pet rabbit 20 feet across the floor, where the rabbit later died.
TRAVIS COUNTY, Texas (KXAN) — A man was arrested after being accused of throwing his girlfriend’s pet rabbit 20 feet across the floor, where the rabbit later died.
Deputies responded to the Hunt Club Apartments at 3101 Shoreline Dr. Saturday around 6:15 p.m. for a family disturbance. While en route, the deputy got a call that a man who had a knife was fighting with a woman.
According to court documents, the caller then stopped responding and dispatch could hear screaming on the open line.
When the deputy arrived, two men were inside the apartment and one of them was holding a long kitchen knife and dropped it when he saw the deputy.
He was identified as 20-year-old James Nelson.
Nelson told the deputy that he and his girlfriend had been arguing over allegations of him cheating and the argument escalated to them pushing, shoving and wrestling each other. He said he left after the argument, but came back a short time later to his girlfriend telling him not to go inside the apartment.
He ended up going back inside and the two started fighting again. His girlfriend’s cousin got there, charged inside the apartment and Nelson allegedly grabbed a knife to defend himself from him.
Nelson’s girlfriend told the deputy they were arguing about cheating and said she was told to leave but he wouldn’t let her get her stuff. He then allegedly threw a punch at her, missed, she swung back at him and then put him in a headlock in the kitchen. The two were separated by Nelson’s mother.
Nelson then allegedly walked to the bedroom where he grabbed his girlfriend’s pet rabbit and threw it out to the living room. Court documents said the rabbit died from being thrown an apparent 20 feet and landing on the hardwood floor. Nelson’s mother confirmed those details and said she saw the rabbit limp away after being thrown but didn’t know that it had died.
Nelson also admitted to throwing the rabbit and said, “he just did not want her to have it.”
He is charged with cruelty to non-livestock animals.