Attorneys/Judges
| Prosecutor(s): | Craig Fraser |
Dog shot in the head
Dublin, GA (US)Incident Date: Friday, Sep 5, 2008
County: Laurens
Disposition: Open
Suspect(s) Unknown - We need your help!
"I have something to say to whoever shot the little dog in the (East Laurens County) woods last week. Whether you did it by accident or deliberately - you didn't kill him, and I made sure he's going to live."
That open message came from a Good Samaritan who identified herself only as "Allie".
Allie is an self-professed animal lover who rescued the dog after finding it with a gunshot wound through its head.
Allie, who asked not to be identified for fear that someone may try to come back and �finish the job,� said she plans to keep the 20 lb Shih Tzu-Terrier mix she has named Precious.
Last Friday, Sept 5th, Allie received a call from her son about a small breed dog that he noticed as it crawled out of a wooded area.
�He said �Mama, you may want to come over here because there�s a dog that�s been shot� and he knows how much I love and respect animals,� Allie said. �So I left the house in my gown and rushed over to where they were. There was this little dog, dirty, matted and bloody, laying there where he had crawled out of the woods.
Allie said her son saw the dog emerge from the woods. �He called it to come over to him and it did, wagging its little tail inspite of the fact that it had been shot.�
The dog wouldn�t drink the water offered by the son. Exhausted, the dog laid down at his feet as if to await its fate. Luckily, fate intervened in the form of Allie.
�When I saw him he looked up at me and wagged his little tail. I dropped to my knees and said �you poor precious angel,� � she recalled. � So I decided right there that I would call him Precious.�
�When I got there they had already called for animal control and were waiting,� said Allie. �But he was suffering, so we went to the East Dublin police station. They were closed, so we went to the East Dublin Fire Department.�
There, a firefighter contacted a police officer. The officials also called animal control and left a message, but later were told the animal control officer on duty was on another call.
�The police officer tried to help, he really did,� said Allie. �But he said all he could do was to shoot him and put him out of his misery. I said �he�s already been shot once.��
That�s when Allie decided to take matters - and Precious - into her own hands.
�Even though he was hurting, he let me help him. I lifted his ear and all I could see was blood and dried blood,� said Allie. �I got some peroxide and cleaned it because I knew he needed to fight infection.� She scooped up the little dog and took him home to comfort him through the night. If he survived the night, she would get help.
The next morning Allie took Precious to Shamrock Vet Care where veterinarian Beverly Hickman began assessing the injuries.
�It looks like the bullet went in here on the side of his face,� Hickman said, pointing to a scar about 3 1/2 inches long on the left side of dog�s head. �It apparently came out here, beneath the chin.�
Dr. Hickman said Precious, who appears to be about five years old, has a good prognosis, inspite of the damage the bullet caused as it ripped through his facial muscle and tissue. �His face may droop on that side and he probably has nerve damage. He�s just started eating which is always a good sign.�
Hickman said the wound appeared to be a few days old. That didn�t surprise Allie.
�Last week I heard someone shooting a gun in the woods beside our place - it was Wednesday or Thursday,� Allie recalled. �Then on Friday, this little dog comes crawling out of the same woods with a bullet wound.�
Allie worries whoever shot Precious may have been acting maliciously. �Most of the neighbors have pets and keep them fenced or chained, but there�s been some kids who have been riding 4-wheelers down there. I don�t like to think anyone would have done this out of meanness - but it certainly appears that way,� she said as tears welled in her eyes.
�Precious wasn�t chasing deer in deer season, or threatening anyone�s livestock. There�s no �livestock� out there in the woods,� she said. �Everyone who has met him notices how friendly and gentle he is. Even when we first found him suffering and in pain he wasn�t snapping. He was friendly. So I doubt he was threatening anyone.�
Allie suspects Precious is a victim of animal cruelty, which is a felony in the State of Georgia. The Animal Cruelty Act of 2004 makes it a felony to shoot a dog that is not causing imminent harm to a person, their property or their livestock.
�The knee jerk reaction for a dog shooting is to refer to O.C.G.A. code 4-8-5. It was designed to protect livestock from wild dogs and coyotes and such. It was not meant to make it open season on dogs in pastures,� said Dr. Billie Boyd, a Gordon County veterinarian. Boyd�s own dog, Peyton, was shot by a neighbor as the dog sat 30 yards over Boyd�s property line. No livestock were in the pasture. Boyd has taken her call for awareness of illegal dog shootings to a website called www.peytonpup.com in memory of her own dog.
�We want to hear about it anytime this sort of thing happens,� said Jeff Shepard, one of Laurens County�s two animal control officers. �Sometimes people wait a day or two to call us, but they need to report it right away.�
Shepard, who was not personally on duty when Precious crawled from the woods, said calls to animal control (478-277-2943) during business hours are relayed to the officers in the field. Calls after hours are returned the following business day.
�If it�s an emergency, people need to call 911,� Shepard said. �Certainly shooting dogs is something we need to know about.�
District Attorney Craig Fraser said professionally - and personally - he views anyone who would harm an innocent animal as a despicable criminal.
�Any animal cruelty case my offices get will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,� Fraser said, �I�ll ask for the longest sentence possible.� Aggravated animal cruelty in Georgia is punishable by up to five years in prison and/or a fine of up to $15,000.
Fraser said animal abusers are not to be taken lightly - he said he is familiar with data in which animal cruelty directly correlates to other violent crimes. References |
