Dawn Lipford will serve no prison time for the death of Miracle, a Great Dane that was found abandoned on the side of a Jacksonville road.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The woman tied to the death of a three-year-old Great Dane in Jacksonville was sentenced to 5 years of probation Wednesday for aggravated animal cruelty. 

The woman, 43-year-old Dawn Lipford, is now a felon and will be added to Florida’s Aggravated Animal Cruelty offender database. The judge ordered that she pay her court costs, complete 300 hours of community service away from animals and receive a mental health evaluation. She will also be barred from owning any pets during her probation.



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In November 2025, Animal Care and Protective Services shared a post on social media about a dog named Miracle, who was found severely emaciated and abandoned on the side of a road. Miracle was humanely euthanized at the shelter due to the severity of his condition. The story of Miracle quickly gained traction across the First Coast, prompting an $8,000 reward for any information regarding Miracle’s death. 

The investigator who worked the case said the Purina Body Condition Score was used when evaluating Miracle’s health, and while it typically ranges from 1 to 9, Miracle scored a .5 due to his weight and was found to be gravely dehydrated with open wounds across his body. His cause of death was determined to be from starvation and dehydration.

Days later, Lipford was arrested in connection with Miracle’s death, whose real name was later identified as Oakleaf. She was charged with one count of aggravated animal cruelty.

Lipford had initially pleaded not guilty to the charge; however, in July 2026, she reversed her plea to guilty.

The prosecution called it a case of prolonged starvation, but Lipford took the stand and denied ever withholding food from him. The defense argued that the dog had a pancreatic condition that could have caused his extreme weight loss.

Lipford said her autoimmune disease made it difficult to care for the dog, and that she attempted to rehome him due to her declining condition, her children’s disabilities and a lack of funds. When rehoming failed, she decided to abandon him.

In deciding against prison time, the judge cited Lipford’s lack of a criminal history, poor health, and a lack of care options for her children if she were to be incarcerated.

The judge had received more than a dozen documented letters from outraged community members asking her to give Lipford the harshest penalty allowed by the law, which would have been five years in prison. She addressed those letters during the sentencing hearing, saying it would be inappropriate to use Lipford’s case as a way to “send a message” about animal cruelty.

“While we believe the maximum sentence available for this level of cruelty would have been appropriate, we also recognize that accountability matters,” Animal Care and Protective Services said in a statement. “The outcome may not have been everything we hoped for, but it was not nothing. There were consequences, restrictions were put in place to help protect animals in the future, and most importantly, Miracle’s suffering was not ignored.”