Pet-Abuse.Com - Animal Abuse Case Details: Two dogs abandoned

Two dogs abandoned
Nashua, NH (US)

Incident Date: Sunday, Dec 12, 2004
County: Hillsborough
Local Map: available
Disposition: Alleged

Alleged: Homer K. Cutliff

Case Updates: 2 update(s) available

Case ID: 3639

Classification: Neglect / Abandonment

Animal: dog (non pit-bull)

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Homer Cutliff, 48, of Second Street in Manchester, was arrested morning and charged with two counts of animal cruelty, police Detective Lt. Thomas MacLeod said. Cutliff was released on personal recognizance pending arraignment Jan. 25 in Nashua District Court. The charges are misdemeanors, punishable by up to a year in jail.

Cutliff apparently abandoned the two mixed-breed dogs at a construction site off Southwood Drive, near the Marriott Hotel, sometime at least 12 hours before construction workers found them on Dec. 13, MacLeod said.

One of the dogs, a young male later named Jack, had a fresh gunshot wound to his right foreleg. The other, dubbed Cookie, is believed to be Jack�s mother, MacLeod said.

Cutliff has not been charged with shooting Jack, but police are still investigating, and have no other suspects, MacLeod said. MacLeod had no information on whether Cutliff had named his dogs previously.

Cutliff abandoned the dogs because his landlord wouldn�t allow him to keep pets, MacLeod said. Cutliff had recently moved to Manchester from Florida, he said. Jack was treated for his injuries at the Animal Hospital adjacent to the Humane Society, and later adopted.

Cookie remains impounded at the Humane Society by order of city police, and can�t be put up for adoptions until the police say so, Humane Society staff said.

MacLeod was not able to say why Cookie is being detained.

Detective Michael Carignan investigated the case, but MacLeod declined to comment on how police tracked Cutliff down.

Case Updates

Homer Cutliff was tried June 8 in Nashua District Court on animal cruelty charges, alleging that he abandoned his two dogs on Dec. 12 near Southwood Drive.

The case drew considerable attention and sympathy for the two dogs, the younger of which was found with a gunshot wound to its right foreleg.

Cutliff was accused only of abandoning the dogs, however, not shooting one of them. The two charges are misdemeanors, punishable by up to a year in jail.

Visiting Special Judge Lawrence MacLeod heard the case, but did not immediately rule on it.

Jennings Excavation site superintendent John Leuci found the two dogs as he was starting work on a construction site off Southwood Drive on Dec. 13, he testified.

One of the dogs, whom Cutliff knew as Tyson and rescuers later dubbed Jack, had been shot, and was curled up under a piece of heavy equipment, Leuci said.

Animal Control Officer Robert Langis snared Tyson, and brought him to a local veterinary hospital, he testified. The other, Cookie, was circling the area, and Langis set a trap to catch her.

Cookie has remained at the Humane Society for Greater Nashua shelter ever since, impounded as evidence. A Brentwood couple adopted Tyson in January.

If Cutliff is convicted, Lt. Tim Goulden said police would ask the court to order that he give up any claim to the dogs, and Cookie could then be evaluated for adoption, too.

It�s not clear what will become of the dogs if Cutliff is acquitted. The dogs remain his property, but his lawyer, public defender James Quay, said he didn�t know whether Cutliff wants them back.

Cutliff had been trying to find a home for the dogs, he testified, because he wasn�t allowed to keep them in his new apartment in Manchester. None of the area shelters would take them, however.

On Dec. 12, Cutliff said, he went out for a drive with the dogs and his son, to cool off after arguing with his wife over whether to keep the dogs or the apartment.

�I was just upset, so I took a ride,� he said. �I just got on the highway, jumped on and headed south.�

Cutliff said he stopped in Nashua to let the dogs take some air and make some water in a wooded area.

�They went right in the forest, did their thing, then they were running around, playing,� he said.

The dogs usually heeded him, Cutliff said, but that evening, they didn�t come when he called. Cutliff said he and his son searched and called them for about 15 minutes, and then went back the next day to look, too.

Cutliff never called police, however, even after his wife heard on the news that the two dogs had been found, Goulden said.

Goulden argued Cutliff would have looked harder for the dogs, if he�d truly intended to keep them.

Source: Nashua Telegraph - June 9, 2005
Update posted on Jun 28, 2005 - 11:20AM

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A Manchester man accused of abandoning two dogs at a city construction site last month pleaded not guilty Tuesday to charges of animal cruelty at his arraignment in Nashua District Court.

The dog, a golden retriever-chow mix later named Jack, was taken to a local veterinarian for treatment and was later adopted by a Brentwood couple. The other dog, later reported to be Jack�s mother, remains at the Humane Society for Greater Nashua.

Cutliff has been charged with two counts of cruelty to animals, a misdemeanor, for allegedly abandoning the dogs at the construction site. Cutliff has not been charged with shooting Jack, and that portion of the investigation is ongoing, police have said.

Cutliff was released on personal recognizance bail following his arrest. A trial on the matter is scheduled for March 16 in Nashua District Court.

Source: NashuaTelegraph.com
Update posted on Jan 26, 2005 - 8:15AM

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References

	Nashua Telegraph - Jan 20, 2005
	WNNE 31 - Jan 20, 2005
	The Union Leader - Jan 20, 2005
	nashuatelegraph.com - Jan 24, 2004

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Two dogs abandonedNashua, NH (US)

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Two dogs abandoned
Nashua, NH (US)