 Dog shot with pellet gun
Puyallup, WA (US)Date: Dec 29, 2002
County: Pierce
Local Map: available
Disposition: Convicted
Abuser/Suspect: Dale Richard DuBois
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Pierce County prosecutors say a Puyallup man who fatally shot his neighbor's dog with a pellet gun is guilty of felony animal cruelty.
Dale Richard DuBois pleaded not guilty Friday in Superior Court to charges that on Dec. 29 he deliberately killed a Norwegian elkhound named Buddy because the dog was digging in his trash.
State law says a person is guilty of felony animal cruelty if he intentionally hurts an animal, inflicts undue pain on an animal or kills an animal. The maximum penalty for the crime is a year in jail and a $10,000 fine.
"You are allowed to kill animals," deputy prosecutor Steve Penner said. "We do it all the time, if you think about slaughterhouses, but it has to be done humanely." Charging documents say DuBois admitted he shot his next-door neighbor Larry Pratt's dog.
DuBois told Puyallup police he caught Buddy going through his garbage - something that had been an ongoing problem. DuBois said he used a Daisy brand .177-caliber air rifle to shoot the 8-year-old dog three or four times from 6 to 10 feet away. He said he wanted to hurt the dog to teach him to stay out of his yard, court papers say.
Charging papers say DuBois denied intending to kill Buddy, but stated, "If the dog dies, oh well. I'm not going to apologize."
Pratt, who rescued the animal from an abusive home four years ago, said DuBois had come to his house just before the shooting and told him Buddy was in his trash again. When Pratt was walking over to DuBois' yard, he said, he heard an air gun being pumped, then a shot, followed by a yelp. Pratt tried to lead Buddy home, but the dog collapsed, bleeding from his mouth. As Pratt was pulling away to drive the dog to the veterinarian, DuBois yelled, "Maybe I put him out of his misery," court papers say.
The dog died on the way to the vet. The veterinarian who examined the dog said a BB had passed between the dog's ribs and punctured his lung. Pratt says he rescues dogs from abusive homes and abandonment, rehabilitates them and finds them homes. He'd had Buddy, an abused dog from Oregon, for four years and was keeping him as a pet.
Pratt said Buddy had started going over the fence about six weeks before the incident. Pratt had raised the fence to 6 1/2 feet and planned to raise it to 9 feet with barbed wire. "If he'd been patient a few more weeks, I would have had it fixed," he said. "I was trying. (DuBois') cats are over at my house all the time. I don't care." Judge Sergio Armijo released DuBois without bail and scheduled his trial for May 1, 2003. Neighborhood MapFor more information about the Interactive Animal Cruelty Maps, see the map notes.
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