ARKANSAS -- A man who says he shot a dog with a hunting bow to defend his family is heading to court to defend himself against a misdemeanor animal cruelty charge.
"I tried running it off, but the dog held it's ground, said Almonzo Hillard, describing what he says happened outside of his Clark County home the morning of October 24th.
Hillard says he was trying to get two dogs off his property nearly two weeks ago when his wife was holding their baby walking to the car before 6 am.
He says he woke up to his wife was screaming, "Almonzo please get these dogs, these dogs are trying to attack me and I'm late for work."
When the yelling and shooing failed, the avid hunter says he pulled out this compound bow, aimed and shot.
"What else is a person to do when their wife and son is being attacked," he said in his defense.
Minutes later down the block, Pete Bonner walked out of his house with his grandchildren and found his two year old Shar Pei, Clyde, bleeding on the ground.
"Woke up walked through the door and my dog was lying there with an arrow through him," he said.
The arrow didn't hit any of his Clyde's major organs. For now, he's limping but healing, Hillard says he reported the incident and showed investigators his wife's ripped pants then found a notice on his door, with a picture of the injured animal and a reward for clues leading to the person responsible.
Clark County Sheriff's deputies say they didn't have any witnesses or enough evidence to continue the investigation. But Bonner went to the prosecuting attorneys office with an affidavit and now Hillard is facing a misdemeanor animal cruelty charge.
Bonner has taken also taken his story online, even starting a petition to have Hillard prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
"Prove to me the dog bit her and I 'll have everything dropped and I'll have the dog put to sleep cause I'm not going to have a biting dog," said Bonner.
[The Shar Pei owner is a moron. The law does not require the dog to bite anyone in order for someone to use deadly force to protect themselves, their family, their own pets and livestock - on their own property - from someone's loose, trespassing, aggressively-behaving dog. Why hasn't the Shar Pei owner addressed the reason his dog was running loose in the first place???]
Hillard stands by his actions and says wants it resolved. He plans on fighting the charge in court, November 9th.
(Arkansas Matters - November 04 2011)
