Dog shot to death - Halifax, VA

Tuesday, Sep 30, 2008

A Halifax County woman says her dog's death highlights the tension between an Amish community and their neighbors.

Christine Harris says Robert Gingerich, a member of that Amish community, killed her hound dog. Gingerich appeared in court Monday, on animal cruelty charges. This all started back in October. That's when Harris says her dog Pup-Pup disappeared.

Four days later, she says Gingerich came to her home and said he'd beaten the dog because it killed several of his turkeys.

Harris didn't believe it - but says she offered to pay for the livestock anyway. She figured that if Pup-Pup just had a minor injury, he would eventually make his way back home. But a couple days later, she found Pup-Pup's body. Badly beaten and so she sent him in for an autopsy, when the results came back, they showed that he'd been shot. Christine Harris, Dog Shot -

"That's one of my babies. I don't have kids so they're like my children so I told him you know when he did that, I said, well you might as well have killed one of my children when you did that."

Gingerich says a bunch of dogs killed seven of his turkeys. And that, with 11 children to feed, those turkeys meant a lot. Gingerich said he tied up one of the dogs in his yard, and shot it that same day.

Robert Gingerich - "I seen all these turkeys laying around there, and i know right away I had a good idea because those dogs are kind of a little bit of trouble anyway in the neighborhood. And I was worrying about them but I didn't do anything 'til after i learned what happened."

Gingerich's case has been continued to February. Harris's friends and neighbors were also in court today, and they say it's an ongoing problem in the neighborhood -- people from the Amish community shooting pets. The head of the community Bishop Daniel Coblentz was not available for comment.

References

• ABC 13 - Dec 15, 2008

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