Texas: Tommy Wade, 54, who allegedly tried to kill his dog by stabbing him and beating him in the head with a hammer, charged with animal cruelty

TEXAS -- A Brownwood man who allegedly told police he was trying to put his dog down with a knife and hammer in October has been arrested on a warrant for animal cruelty, police and jail officials said Monday.
 
Tommy Wade, 54, turned himself in Monday morning, and jail staff was in the process of booking him in later Monday, police and jail officials said. Bond on the state jail felony has been set at $10,000.

Wade allegedly told police he believed the dog was slowly dying and couldn't stand to see the dog "in that condition," a police report states.

Bruiser, the pit bull injured in the Oct. 20 attack in the 1600 block of Fourth, is doing well in a foster home in East Texas, veterinarian technician Carren Bowden of the Small Animal Medical Center in Brownwood said.

An animal control officer took Bruiser to the clinic, where he was treated for multiple stab wounds and multiple contusions on his head. "He was hit and stabbed," Bowden said, adding that the stab wounds missed the dog's vital organs.

"He was a lucky dog," Bowden said. "He did really good after he got here."

Bruiser, whose age was "eight years-plus," had a non-life-threatening skin condition when he was attacked, Bowden said.

Bruiser was at the Brownwood clinic for about three weeks before being taken in by the Angels and Outlaws Second Chance Bully Ranch, Bowden said. "They may just end up keeping him themselves," Bowden said of Bruiser's foster family. "I have a feeling that he's going to stay right there."

According to a police report:

Brownwood police were dispatched to a home in the 1600 block of Fourth on an animal cruelty call in which a man told an officer he was trying to "put the dog down" with a knife and hammer.

Animal control confiscated the injured pit bull and took the dog to a veterinarian for treatment, and the dog's owner was taken by ambulance to Brownwood Regional Medical Center for a reason that was not specified in a police report. An officer spoke with the man in the emergency room, and the man said his dog was "slowly dying and it broke his heart to see it in such a condition," the report states.

First responders told the officer they'd been told that the man was seen beating his dog, which was lying in the man's back yard with a large amount of blood around its throat and head.

The officer saw numerous injuries to the dog, and when the dog stood up, the officer saw that it appeared the dog's throat had been sliced open. The officer located a hammer and knife covered in blood splatter.

In the emergency room, the dog's owner told the officer that he had tried to get animal control to take possession of the dog and had even attempted to find a ride out to the animal shelter but was unsuccessful.

"Unable to bear watching his dog suffer any further, (the owner) advised me he decided to take care of putting the dog down himself," the officer's report states. "When asked how he was going to accomplish this task, (the owner) informed he he attempted to use a knife and hammer."

When asked if she'd describe what happened to Bruiser as abuse, Bowden replied, "oh goodness yes, hands down."

Bowden described Bruiser as "a sweetheart. I don't know that he has a mean bone in his body. If I could've kept him, I would have. Great dog."

(Brownwood Bulletin - December 8, 2014)