The declining U.S. economy claimed one more victim today, this time a Boston terrier by the name of Mr. Harvey.

Mr. Harvey, 4, was found lying in a pool of his own blood and wearing a pink, knitted sweater in the home of Bringerton T. Finkelstein of Sonoma County, California. Finkelstein, 37, was arrested in connection with the dog’s death and charged with aggravated attempted bestiality.

Finkelstein is currently employed as a grape picker for Shitzin Giggles, a kosher, organic winery known for its high alcohol content and use of non-hormone enhanced pig feces. Finkelstein had been seen arguing with his employer just one week earlier.

Shitzin Giggles, one of the more commercially successful kosher wineries in the United States, adheres to the strict policy of “letting the fields go fallow” every seven years as dictated by Torah. Though some kosher wineries obey the religious law literally, Shitzin Giggles follows a looser interpretation, leasing out its land to a Muslim winery every seventh year and taking the year off. It was this policy, fellow Shitzin Giggles employees said, that led to the dog’s eventual rape and murder. Or, rather, murder and rape.

Sources say that fallow fields and a weak economy led to the company’s decision to roll out a 2% salary cap.

“He was expecting more,” Grape Pickers Union president Vinnie Gonzales said of Finkelstein. One expert analyzing the case also pointed to the rising costs of porno and matzo as possible mitigating circumstances.

“Finkelstein’s grape picking skills will be sorely missed,” CEO Marty Shitzin said. “The way he caressed each grape with care and finesse convinces me that he must have treated his dog’s corpse with the utmost respect.”

Mr. Harvey will be laid to rest on Sunday at the “It’s a Dog’s Life” Crematorium at 375 Napa Road, Sonoma.