HOWARD COUNTY, Ind — Deputies arrested a Howard County man for animal cruelty in what they called a botched amputation.
Randy Barrett told detectives his dog Royce was hit by a car in March 2020 and had extensive injuries. Royce stayed at the vet while recovering from that accident.
Over the past several weeks, Barrett said Royce's leg had developed gangrene and began to rot away. He told investigators he reached out to several veterinarians for help, but he didn't have the money needed.
Barrett said he began looking into how to amputate Royce's leg himself. Randy explained to the detective that he performed this procedure at home on Jan. 26. He stated to detectives that he “cleaned the leg with peroxide, shaved it, and rubbed it with alcohol” prior to cutting Royce’s leg off with a “new diamond blade Dremel tool”. Detectives said that Randy told them he performed this operation without the use of anesthetics and that Royce “laid perfectly still and did not bark."
Two days later, on Jan. 28, Barrett took Royce to a veterinarian for treatment. The vet described the leg as an “infected wound with a jagged cut bone.” The veterinarian was also told by Randy that he used a heated piece of steel to cauterize the wound after amputating Royce’s leg.
Because the wound was cauterized, there wasn't enough skin for the veterinarian to close the wound and why Royce developed sepsis.
Barrett was arrested for cruelty to an animal and then also arrested for resisting law enforcement.
Royce is now in the care of the Kokomo Humane Society.
