Facebook Photo Of Dog’s Mouth Duct Taped Has Owner In Hot Water

A North Carolina woman is facing animal cruelty charges after a photo she posted on Facebook went viral last weekend.

Katherine F. Lemansky, known on Facebook as Katie Brown, posted a photograph on November 27 showed her chocolate lab Brown with its muzzle wrapped in grey duct tape. A caption attached to the photo read “This is what happens when you don’t shut up.”

The photo went viral over the weekend, and spread across social media like a wildfire. Angry citizens inundated police in Connecticut and Florida, two states where the woman was previously known to live, with calls for Lemansky to be charged, before she was eventually located in Cary, North Carolina.

Lemansky was charged with a class 1 count of cruelty to animals, a misdemeanor, after she allegedly admitted to taping the dog’s mouth shut. She faces a fine and a potential sentence of 150 days in jail. Cary police Captain Randall Rhyne called Lemansky’s actions a “terrible decision” and that “charging her with animal cruelty under North Carolina law was the right thing to do.”

Rhyne also stressed however that Lemansky will not lose custody of Brown, or another unnamed dog in her care, as animal control officers found no evidence of mistreatment. The dogs were said to be well cared for, nourished, groomed, and living comfortably. Brown specifically was said to show no signs of harm from the duct-taping incident.

Lemansky is scheduled to appear in court relating to the animal cruelty charge on December 14.