Dog stolen, used as dog-fighting bait
Gautier, MS (US)Incident Date: Monday, Jul 9, 2007
County: Jackson
Disposition: Open
Suspect(s) Unknown - We need your help!
A neighborhood that has seen its share of animal abuse is once again reminded that their pets are not safe in their own backyards.
A usually playful Jasmin, a black labrador-pit bull-chow mix who loves the outdoors, laid quietly on a pillow inside her house Wednesday afternoon, unable to walk or even turn over without pain, while her owners wondered why anyone would purposefully hurt an innocent pet.
Jasmin's owner, Chris Seiler, believes his dog, not even 2 years old, was taken from his backyard sometime around midnight on July 9 and used as bait to train fighting dogs in the neighborhood.
"She was a puppet," Seiler said. "She was there to train a dog."
Jasmin has a cracked pelvis, swollen paws, a severely swollen back right leg and wounds marked by missing skin on her chest, abdomen and head. The tendon holding the femur to her pelvis was cracked.
Seiler said the veterinarian at the Gautier Animal Clinic told him that the dog's wounds were consistent with dogfighting.
Seiler said he has filed a police report, and a witness from his neighborhood said she saw a teenage boy from the next street over dragging Jasmin down Seiler's street at midnight Sunday. The police report was not immediately available Wednesday afternoon.
Seiler searched the neighborhood for three hours Monday, but a badly wounded Jasmin managed to return home on her own around 11 a.m. that day.
"She crawled back," Seiler's girlfriend, Stephanie Ingegniero, said.
Seiler said when he first saw her coming home, he didn't realize the extent of Jasmin's injuries.
"I went up to her, because I saw her limping, and I didn't know what was wrong," Seiler said.
One neighborhood teenager's mother said her son was questioned by police and told them that the family was on vacation in Florida when the incident occurred, so it could not possibly have been her son.
Ingegniero said as a former alternative school teacher, she has seen the callous attitude teenagers can have about dogfighting.
"They don't care about the dog," Ingegniero said. "They say, It's not my dog. I don't care what happens to it.'"
On Wednesday, Jasmin was still lethargic, but perked up when she found dog treats in her food bowl. Seiler and Ingegniero petted her and encouraged her to eat.
Jasmin would be returning to the veterinarian's office later that day for surgery on her back leg, which only started to swell Tuesday night. The dog is on steroids and anti-inflammatory medications, and if surgery goes well, Jasmin can be expected to regain as much as 85 percent of the use of her back leg.
Seiler has already spent $160 for Jasmin's treatment and, as a full-time student and worker, the financial burden will be hard for him to bear, but Jasmin is not just a dog, Seiler said. Jasmin is a member of the family.
"I know it's going to be one hell of a dent in my checkbook later," Seiler said. "But what do you do for your kids?" References
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