Texas: Tammy Douglas sentenced for shooting dog in cage and abandoning her puppies to die

TEXAS -- A Springtown woman is starting the new year in jail for the 2014 killing of her dog, who was caged with her litter of puppies.

In a plea agreement reached with the Parker County attorney’s office last month, Tammy G. Douglas was sentenced to 60 days in jail on the charge of cruelty to a non-livestock animal. In addition, Douglas was fined $1,000 and $242 in court costs, according to Parker County court records.

Douglas, 45, was booked into the Parker County Jail on Dec. 28 and remained there Monday.

Douglas told investigators that she shot her dog, Aowa, in the head because she was “agitated” with her, although she did not explain why she abandoned Aowa’s 10 puppies, still suckling their dead mother, in the cage in May 2014.

Douglas was arrested at her Springtown home in June 2014 after a resident’s tip led Parker County deputies to her. She was later released on $3,000 bail.

After the story was on local and social media and a reward of several thousand dollars was offered, residents who recognized the dog, puppies and the wire cage called Parker County authorities.

Officials said Douglas told authorities that she had owned Aowa and the puppies. She said she used a 9mm handgun to shoot the adult dog near her home, then took her body and the puppies to Raley Road and left them there, authorities said.

“To a normal, caring human, this is an incomprehensible act,” Parker County Sheriff Larry Fowler tolde the Star-Telegram in a June 2014 interview. “I can’t imagine what the suspect thought these puppies did in order to warrant her actions. Animal cruelty can never be justified.”

The caged dog and litter were found on May 28, 2014, on Raley Road in Springtown.

 

 

Animal control supervisor Karen Kessler described Aowa as a 3-year-old red shepherd mix with a black muzzle, weighing about 35 pounds.

The puppies “were covered in their mother’s blood from where she had been shot in the top of the head,” Kessler said in a June 2014 news release. “The mother was obviously malnourished and should have weighed at least 50 pounds.”

The puppies were taken to Angels & Outlaws Second Chance Bully Ranch in Hico.

(Fort Worth Star Telegram - Jan 4, 2016)

Earlier:

• Texas: Tammy Douglas jailed in Parker County for shooting dog, abandoning pups