GEORGIA -- A south Bryan County man has been accused of killing his neighbor’s dog. On March 31 Bryan County Sheriff’s Department Deputy Seth Strickland was summoned to Proman Hill Road address. When the deputy arrived he observed Stewart Bernard Smith standing in his front yard with a tan colored dog lying at his feet with what appeared to be a shotgun would to the chest.
Smith told Strickland he shot the dog, a 59 pound Pitt Bull, because it was in his backyard. Smith went on to explain he had found at least 20 of his chickens dead in his yard during the past week and felt the dog had been killing them. However Smith added that he had not seen the dog kill or attack any of his chickens, nor did he know if it had ever attacked a person.
The dog’s owner Aaron Howard said the neither Allie, the dog shot by Smith, nor any of his four other Pitt bulls had ever attacked anybody.
“He (Smith) even stated that in the police report. They are the nicest dogs. They all watch TV every night with us, they sleep on the bed with us, they sleep on the couch, … they are all real smart dogs,” he said.
Deputies on the scene told Smith he could be charged with cruelty to animals. However Bryan County Sheriff’s Department Detective Mickey Sands, who investigated the case, declined to do so.
“No charges have been filed; I am going to let them work this out among themselves. The can file warrants on each other if they want,” Sands said. “These dogs have a history of running loose, being aggressive, charging at people when they get out of their cars, backing them up.”
In the meantime, Howard said he filed a warrant for cruelty to animals against Smith in Bryan County Magistrate’s Court Tuesday.
“I hope he goes to jail and has to pay a lot of fines,” Howard said. “And that this kind of opens his eyes up to where he can’t shoot any more dogs.”
Smith told the deputies he determined he would take action against the animal because “he was tired of the dog running around the neighborhood and no one doing anything about it.”
The wounded dog was euthanized at the scene by a Bryan County Animal Control officer.
On Monday Howard was cited for having an Animal at Large.
(Savannah Now - April 3, 2012)
