Police say Jerry Thomas and Kathy Thomas abandoned their dog, Lily, on the side of the road in Old Town in June.
Police say they pulled over on the side of Bennoch Road Saturday, dragged their poor sick dog out of their vehicle and left her on the side of the road. They then climbed back into their vehicle and drove off, leaving the dog named Lily to die a slow, agonizing death on the side of the road all alone out in the pouring rain.
“She was in really rough shape,” Holmes said about Lily, the 5-year-old German shepherd the couple allegedly abandoned early Saturday morning in the pouring rain off a turnaround along Bennoch Road.
“She had little to no hair on her back and legs and she was covered in bugs. Her skin was leathery,” Holmes said.
The officer said that the dog also was thin and had infected ears. Ticks were embedded around its neck and nails, which were so long they were curled under.
A witness was able to provide the license plate number of the dark-colored truck seen near where the dog was found and Holmes used it to trace the couple to their former home in Hudson, where their former landlord confirmed they had owned a German shepherd.
Holmes eventually traced the couple to the Ranger Inn in Bangor where they had been staying.
Jerry Thomas initially lied to the officer and denied having left the dog, saying that he had pulled over along Bennoch Road to relieve himself.
He then allegedly told the officer he accepted full responsibility for the incident, but Holmes said she decided to charge both of the Thomases because Lily’s condition appeared to be the result of long-term neglect and “there is no way [Kathy Thomas] could have come home every night and not seen it.”
They were ordered to pay a $150 fine each.
(WABI - September 5, 2013)
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