Dog breeder convicted of animal cruelty dies in Las Vegas hospital

George R. Papania, 71, died Wednesday afternoon at Valley Hospital Medical Center, according to the Nevada Department of Corrections. He had been previously housed at High Desert State Prison. He was committed from Nye County in June 2016, the department said.

Papania, a breeder of Italian greyhounds, was serving two consecutive sentences of 12 to 30 months for willfully and maliciously torturing or unjustifiably maiming, mutilating or killing a dog.

A District Court jury found Papania guilty in November 2015 under tougher provisions enacted after the Nevada Legislature approved Cooney’s Law, which went into effect Oct. 1, 2011. The law was named after a beagle dog mutilated by its owner in Reno in 2010.

The Clark County coroner’s office will determine Papania’s official cause and manner of death.

Contact Mike Shoro at mshoro@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5290. Follow @mike_shoro on Twitter. Review-Journal staff writer Rio Lacanlale contributed to this report.