WILLIAMSON COUNTY, Texas (KXAN) — With another freeze expected Wednesday night, a deadly and heartbreaking animal cruelty case out of Williamson County is top-of-mind.

Judge KT Musselman, Williamson County Justice of the Peace in Precinct 1, said he received a call on Tuesday with an animal control officer on the line.

Musselman said none of the bowls in the pen had food or water.

“Their snouts had mud and dirt in their teeth indicating that they had started eating the ground and the dirt because they had been in that pen for too long,” Musselman said.

He said one of the dogs was seizing in the animal control officer’s hands while she was banging on the homeowner’s door and asking if anyone was there.

Delay serving the warrant

Any justice of the peace or municipal judge within the county can issue a warrant to seize an animal they believe is being treated cruelly, Musselman said.

But in this situation, he said they lost about 15 minutes trying to figure out who had the authority to sign that warrant.

“We were 60 feet away from the county line, and we had a jurisdictional question,” Musselman said. “We did our best to issue that warrant as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, because of the time, one of those dogs died in the animal control officer’s arms.”

The surviving dog is now at the county’s regional hospital and veterinary center, Musselman said.

He said a hearing on Jan. 31 will decide if the owners get the dog back.

“The housing unit has housing owners, but there’s also renters that live there,” Musselman said. “Unfortunately, no one was home, so we’re in a situation where we’re without owners until we can discover that to bring them to justice.”

‘Bring about some change’

Musselman said he wants to make sure they don’t deal with delays like this again.

“I’ll be working with my fellow justices of the peace that were involved in the situation, as well as our delegation here in Williamson County, to try to bring about some change that could allow for this not to happen in the future,” Musselman said.

He plans to ask lawmakers to cut down on the time it takes to figure out which judge has the authority to issue a warrant in this kind of emergency situation.

“That could be as simple as changing the health and safety code to allow any judge in a neighboring county to be able to issue that order,” Musselman said. “Small change, but could have a huge difference.”

If someone sees an animal outside in cold temperatures, Musselman said to call law enforcement.

“It’s only because of somebody who called this in, in Bartlett, that one of these dogs was able to make it,” Musselman said.