Teresa Rutledge
Teresa Rutledge
Animal Cruelty
Video of Teresa abusing her dog on the subway in Toronto
On August 4th, 2017, Teresa Rutledge was filmed on the Toronto subway (at Bloor-Yonge station) abusing her small dog. She is seen hitting the dog repeatedly and even biting it several times. It is not clear why the dog was being reprimanded. The Toronto Sun identified the dog's breed as a Chinese Crested Dog. [1]
A man then pulled the train alarm and approached Teresa.
The man asked Rutledge to stop abusing her dog, to which Teresa replied "what the fuck are you talking about?" and asked that the man "get the fuck Away" from her.
Other passengers on the subway claimed that Teresa was biting her dog's tail and hitting it.
They were proclaiming that she was unfit to take care of an animal.
The whole train stopped, more than 3 TTC staff walked towards her and she got off the train.
Some have speculated that she was under the Influence of a powerful stimulant like methamphetamine
or cocaine, since Teresa Rutledge was seen fidgeting and clenching her Hands.
Investigation
Roxy Huang filmed the video of Teresa abusing her dog on the subway.
The police were called to the scene after a subway rider pulled the emergency alarm at the St. George Station, Toronto Police spoke with the woman and released her with the dog.
“Officers from 53 Division spoke to the woman and some witnesses and found no signs physical harm to the dog,” said Const.
Allyson Douglas-Cook, adding there was no basis in law to remove the dog from its owner.
After the video went of the abuse went viral, “Immediately the officers contacted the OSPCA (Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals),” said Cook, who said she herself was “very concerned” about the welfare of the dog.
“We do have an open investigation into the matter,” said OSPCA spokesman Alison Cross.
“It was brought to our attention (Saturday).
It’s too early in our investigation to share details at this time.
We will be updating the public when we have more information to share.”
Alison Cross said, “the dog was returned to the owner by the police as the police had no grounds to remove the dog from the owner under the law.
If the dog is not in immediate distress, … they wouldn’t have grounds to keep it.