A central Oregon man is accused of poisoning his neighbor's dogs in Crooked River Ranch, but isn't believed to be involved in the shooting deaths of other animals in the community, sheriff's officials said.
Alan Roy Whitacre, 68, was arrested on April 12 and faces two counts of aggravated animal abuse after allegedly throwing lye, a caustic powder, on two German shepherds, said Jefferson County Undersheriff Jim Adkins.
"He was mad because the dogs were barking," Adkins said.
The dogs, 10-year siblings named Topaz and Timber, survived, but their gums and tongues are severely burned, said owner Kenneth Schmidt.
Schmidt found food laced with rat poison as well as razor blades, fish hooks and glass in his fenced yard, he said. He caught the lye attack on video after he set up a camera on his fence, said Schmidt and sheriff's officials.
The sheriff's office and Redmond Humane Society have spent months investigating the killing and injuring of more than a dozen pets in the rural subdivision north of Redmond. Most cases involved shootings with a high-powered pellet guns.
Investigators don't think Whitacre is responsible for the shootings.
"We did not find anything in his house that led us to believe that," Adkins said. References« OR State Animal Cruelty Map
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