The Mexican Cesar Millan, known as the “dog whisperer,” will not have to face animal cruelty charges following an investigation by Los Angeles County authorities into what happened in one episode of the TV show “Cesar 911.”
“After a comprehensive investigation by our officers, we presented a very thorough and complete report to the District Attorney’s office and they were unable to find anything to charge Mr. Millan with,” the deputy director of the Animal Care and Control Department of Los Angeles County, Aaron Reyes, was cited by the Los Angeles Times as saying.
“It’s a fair decision,” Reyes said.
The incident went back to mid-March, when authorities of the Animal Care and Control Department went to Millan’s Dog Psychology Center in Santa Clarita to investigate a suspected case of animal cruelty.
The investigation came in response to a complaint posted on the Internet about the Feb. 26 episode of “Cesar 911,” in which a dog attacked a pet pot-bellied pig.
A statement issued by Nat Geo Wild, the network that airs the program, explained that Millan at that time was working with Simon, a French bulldog-terrier mix that habitually attacked other animals, including its owner’s pet pigs.
The purpose was to train the canine not to attack pets.
“A short clip from the episode was shared online and showed Simon chasing a pig and nipping its ear, causing the ear to bleed,” the channel said, and went on to admit that the scene “caused some concern for viewers who did not see or understand the full context of the encounter.”
“The pig that was nipped by Simon was tended to immediately afterward, healed quickly and showed no lasting signs of distress,” the network said.
The dog was not euthanized, nor was it separated from its owner, the note said.
Upon learning that he will not face charges, Millan said Monday in a communique that he and his team are dedicated 100 percent to “the proper care of all animals.”