A Long Island man was arrested and charged with a gruesome attack on his parents’ Shih Tzu, biting the dog’s head and pulling out her tiny right eye, officials said Monday.
Aaron Kluger, 20, was arrested Saturday after a family member told officials at a local animal hospital what happened, Gary Rogers, a spokesman for the Nassau County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, said Monday.
Three-year-old Chloe underwent emergency surgery to reattach her eye after the Nov. 6 attack, and Rogers said the veterinarian who treated her was hopeful the playful pooch will regain her sight.
“I hate to say I’ve seen it all, because every time I say it, I see something else,” said Rogers, who visited the dog over the weekend.
“They’re friendly dogs. They’re popular dogs. She was wagging her tail and licking me.”
Kluger, of Port Washington, was hit with a misdemeanor animal torture charge.
There are no other animals in the house.
Kluger’s forgiving parents said prosecutors are barking up the wrong tree.
“The eye was slightly displaced, it was a minor injury,” said the suspect’s father, Dan Kluger, 58.
“It was an accident. You should know that a Shih Tzu’s eye can be displaced just by pulling the skin back.”
He described the replacement procedure as “minor surgery.”
“They put it back in place,” Kluger said. “It was hardly noticeable. I didn’t even think she required immediate medical attention.”
Kluger said his son had never hurt the dog, a gift from his daughter, before. He added that Aaron was the one who insisted they bring Chloe to the animal hospital.
“I think it’s totally outrageous,” Kluger said.
“This is crazy. They made it appear as if he performed vivisection on this dog. My son is suicidal now. He’s terribly upset.”
Kluger described his son as a heroin addict who was classified as emotionally disabled by the committee for special education in the Port Washington school district.
As a result, he had to stop going to school in the sixth grade because of social anxiety issues, Kluger said.
Aaron’s mother, Mary Kluger, 59, said Aaron immediately took action after he noticed the dog was injured.
“He was playing with her and it busted out,” she said of the eye.
“He was concerned. He saw that it was slightly out and he went online and he saw that it was something that had to be taken care of, so he made sure that his dad brought the dog to the animal hospital.”
The parents said they were not sure how the injury happened, but a veterinarian told officials that the dog definitely suffered a human bite.
“A human bite is totally different from an animal bite,” Rogers said. “The vet was able to figure out that somebody did this.”
Aaron Kluger is due back in court Dec. 27.
