Dog shot to death
Emmitsburg, MD (US)Incident Date: Saturday, May 31, 2008
County: Frederick
Disposition: Open
Suspect(s) Unknown - We need your help!
The familiar bark of Lulu no longer greets visitors at the end of the Moreland family's gravel driveway. On May 31, Eddie Jr. and Pam Moreland found their Labrador/Great Dane shot dead in a field on their 110-acre Emmitsburg farm. With no clues as to who shot the beloved pet, the Morelands are left in shock and are in need of answers.
"I just couldn't believe it," Pam said. "She was a great dog."
Lulu was also a lucky dog -- she was one of the 16,000 pets rescued from Hurricane Katrina.
"The story was that they found her on the roof of a house," Pam said. "I guess she had climbed up."
The Morelands did not get Lulu directly from Louisiana. Three years ago, Lulu was given to the Morelands by a friend who had adopted Lulu from the Humane Society in Charleston, W.Va., which took in animals rescued from the disaster.
"She was a big dog and they had kids," Pam said. "It was too much, so they couldn't keep her."
Lulu, who Eddie said loved everyone, quickly became part of the family.
"She was just always like one of our kids," he said.
The night before the Morelands discovered Lulu's body, they were eating dinner with their grandchildren when they heard what sounded like gunshots.
"We heard 'bang bang' and our daughter walked out to see what the noise was or where it was coming from, but didn't see anything," Pam said.
Because Lulu stayed in the barn, the Morelands did not realize she was missing until the next day.
"We got on the four-wheelers and started looking and yelling for her," Pam said. "When I went across the field and around the corner, there she laid."
Lulu had been shot twice, Eddie said, once in the head and once in the leg so it was clearly not an accident.
The Morelands called the police, and Officer Michael Douglas of the Frederick County Sheriffs Office and Animal Control came to investigate. Douglas asked neighbors if they knew anything about the incident. One reported hearing three or four gunshots Friday night, Douglas said.
Douglas also brought a metal detector to the area, but did not find any shell casings, Eddie said.
The Morelands cannot think of anyone who would want to harm their dog.
"(Whoever did it) is a sick person," Eddie said. "What would drive anyone to shoot somebody's dog on their own property?"
Living on a farm, the Morelands have few neighbors.
"We don't have any neighbors to not get along with," Pam said.
With fields and barns full of cows, goats, chickens and pigs, the Morelands fear that their other animals could be in danger. They are also concerned with their own safety.
"The worse thing that worried me was that all the grandchildren were out there helping us get hay" the night of the gunshots, Eddie said. "They could have just as well shot one of the kids."
Lulu loved to tag along with the family whenever they did farm work or went four-wheeling, and especially enjoyed riding right alongside them on their Gator, a utility tractor.
"If there wasn't anything on the back, she was on there," Pam said. "If we had a load on it, she would run along beside us. No matter where we were going she was always with us."
When Lulu wasn't riding across the fields with her family, she was hunting groundhogs or playing with the Moreland's grandchildren.
"She loved the kids," Eddie said, which was what he liked best about her.
Lulu was also a great watchdog, alerting them whenever someone pulled into the driveway.
"Now every time I hear a dog bark, I jump up," Eddie said.
It was Lulu's tendency to greet visitors which allowed her to form a bond with the UPS man, who made a habit of bringing her a bone when he came to deliver a package.
But when the UPS man came Friday with a bone for Lulu, Pam had to share the news.
"He said, 'Where's Lulu?' and I said, 'It's a sad story,'" Pam said, holding back tears.
Even their son's dog, Holly, who stays at the Moreland's farm is missing Lulu.
"She's lost without her," Pam said.
Eddie said that it will be a while before he and Pam find closure.
"It's just hard to believe she's not there," Pam said. "We'll never find another one like her." References« MD State Animal Cruelty Map
« More cases in Frederick County, MD
|
