BURKBURNETT (KFDX/KJTL) — A Burkburnett man has been charged with cruelty to an animal for his reported attempts to get rid of a pet ferret that apparently did not want to leave.

Burkburnett police were making a welfare and disturbance check on Harwell on Sunday, August 16. The police said when they got there, Johnathan Wallace was on the front porch and said he was waiting on Animal Control to come pick up a ferret. Wallace said he did not want it any longer and did not care if it ran off.

Officers told him animal control had been attempting to contact him by phone and in person about the ferret, but he would not answer.

They said Wallace then went inside and brought the ferret out and threw it on the porch and tried to make it run away. When it did not, they said Wallace picked it up and threw it out into the front yard but it came back to the porch.

When police told him Animal Control would be coming to talk about the ferret, they said Wallace again grabbed it off the porch and walked to an empty lot and threw the ferret into the lot.

When the animal control officer arrived and told him he could not just release the pet into the wild and that if he did he could be charged with animal cruelty they said Wallace told them that was fine, and put his hands behind his back.

A Burkburnett police spokesperson said the suspect’s girlfriend took custody of the ferret.