Ernesto Rodriguez posted a photograph on Facebook of his beloved pitbull, Duchess, wearing a fresh new tat. Wait, what? Yep, Rodriguez tattooed his 5-month-old purebred American bully on her underbelly Wednesday.
The image went viral and generated complaints, launching an investigation by the Stokes County Health Department, WXII12 reported. Rodriguez defended the tattoo. "I even used topical anesthetic on the skin, so she didn’t feel anything. She got up and she’s been fine," Rodriguez told the station.
More from GlobalPost: Woman tattoos boyfriend's name across her face
Well, when you think of it that way, it's probably not much worse than getting spayed.
It appears that officials agreed with this assessment. He later took to Facebook to post a harsh message to his haters: "Animal control came looked at my beautiful dog and left…. wow… what a waste of tax payers money."
However, it perhaps should be noted that he was issued a cease-and-desist for tattooing humans without a permit, according to Mediaite.
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