New Jersey: Richard Bijacsko, 52, convicted of killing a pit bull puppy by beating it to death with an axe

NEW JERSEY -- A Burlington County jury found a Wrightstown man guilty of animal cruelty and a weapons offense for beating a pit bull puppy to death with an axe last year.

Richard Bijacsko, 52, of East Main Street, who lived in Springfield at the time of the incident, was convicted last week of two third-degree charges of animal cruelty and possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose in the death of a 6-month-old pit bull named Leonitis.

The verdict was returned late Thursday after a three-day trial before Superior Court Judge Jeanne T. Covert at the Burlington County Courthouse in Mount Holly, officials said. Bijacsko is set to be sentenced in June. Third-degree charges are punishable by up to three to five years in prison.

Bijacsko was arrested last April 23 by township police, who helped investigate the death of the puppy.

According to a Burlington County SPCA statement at the time, the puppy was found days earlier in a recycling bucket outside a motel on Route 130 in Florence.

The owner of the dog had turned him over to Bijacsko because he was staying at the motel and could not have a pet, authorities have said. Initially, Bijacsko fabricated a story that the puppy had broken his leash and been fatally struck by a car.

No evidence was found in the area where Bijacsko claimed the puppy had been hit, and he said he couldn't remember where he picked up the puppy because he had been drinking, the SPCA has previously said.

At trial, a veterinarian testified for the state that the injuries the puppy sustained were not consistent with being hit by a vehicle.

The state, which was represented by Burlington County Assistant Prosecutor Keith Carmy, had instead contended Bijacsko beat the puppy with the backside of an ax.

X-rays revealed the puppy's skull had sustained several fractures, according to officials. Bijacsko had previously told police he hit Leonitis in the head with the axe because the puppy had caused him problems, officials have said.

(Burlington County Times - April 17, 2017)

Florida: Jordan Morgan, 18, who was charged with animal cruelty, aggravated battery and attempted murder after striking his boyfriend and their cat in the head with an axe, has committed suicide

FLORIDA -- A man police were searching for was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in a home in Altamonte Springs.

Deputies said they found the body of Jordan Morgan, 18, at a home on the 500 block of Breckenridge Village in Altamonte Springs.

Deputies had a warrant for Morgan’s arrest on charges of attempted murder, aggravated battery and animal cruelty.

Police said Morgan struck his boyfriend and a cat in the heads on Thursday.

The victim was asleep at his home in unincorporated Oviedo when he woke up to find his boyfriend, Jordan Douglas Morgan, standing over his bed with an ax in his hand, according to an incident report.

Morgan hit the victim and the victim's cat, Sukki, with the small ax, deputies said. The victim told his roommates he chased Morgan out of the house after the attack. 

Roommates said the victim had a gash on his head and the cat's head was split open, according to deputies. Blood was found splattered on the stairs and near a window.

Deputies said Morgan left the home on foot and they were unable to located him.

Authorities said Morgan also hit a cat in the head with the axe. The cat was taken to a veterinarian’s office to be treated for serious injuries.

(WFLA - April 1, 2017)

Alabama: Dogs seized last month in animal cruelty case need foster homes

ALABAMA -- Animal cruelty officers are turning to the public for help with a pair of dogs that were taken from their owner in Montgomery due to suspected abuse and neglect.

The dogs, Spooky and Prince, are in desperate need of foster parents and forever homes.

 

Denton Hawk, lead investigator for the Montgomery Humane Society’s Humane Officer Division, says in July of 2015, he received a call from a neighbor stating that the dogs’ owner was beating Prince with a metal baseball bat because he got out of the yard.

“I did a welfare check and really didn't see anything at the time, but I kept a file on the suspect. About three weeks ago, I received a call from the neighbor's father stating that the suspect was beating Spooky with an axe handle,” Hawk said.

 

At that point, the dogs were seized and the Humane Society won custody of them in a civil action called Petition for Custody last week. They were taken to a local veterinarian and given a thorough physical exam.

Investigator Hawk said Prince had a cut tongue, cut ears, a broken ankle with the bone completely separated, and a large old wound on his backside, “that was more than likely from a beating.”

“Also, Prince has three stubs for teeth. There is no logical explanation for this since. He has been tethered all of his life,” Hawk added. “Spooky has a broken rib, broken canine tooth, a blinded left eye, and had open wounds on his tail from fleas. He has been tethered and mistreated all of his life.”

 

 

 

 

 

Both dogs were heavily infested with fleas and had never seen a vet.

The Humane Society says both dogs need foster parents and forever homes, and they hope members of the community will step forward to help.

“Hopefully, they will learn that not all humans are bad,” Investigator Hawk said.

Call 334-409-0622 Option 1 and ask for Denton Hawk if you are interested in providing aid or care. Hawk will present his case against Spooky and Prince’s owner to a Montgomery County Grand Jury.

 

 

(WSFA - Oct 28, 2016)

Georgia: Gertha Atis buy pot-bellied pig on Craigslist; asks neighbor Freddie Phelps to kill it. What happens next is horrific.

GEORGIA -- A squealing pet pig with a pick axe in its back was running for its life Wednesday as a man with a rifle chased it through Kings Park.

Men putting in a new sunroom in the east Macon-Bibb County neighborhood were first alarmed by gunshots, then the sight and sounds of the wounded animal.

“It was one of the most disgusting things I’ve ever witnessed before. It was a horrible thing that happened,” said Brian Walls, who was installing windows at a nearby house when a man with a .22 rifle shot the pig in the side.

After a second gunshot, Walls says he figured the pig was dead and tried to ignore what was happening -- until he heard the pig’s painful cries.

“We were in shock to see him out here with a gun shooting in the neighborhood,” said Tim Montgomery, who was working with Walls. “They didn’t know what they were doing because, you know, if you shoot a pig, you’re supposed to shoot it between the eyes or in the back of the head, point-blank, or however they do it humanely.”

Walls confronted 62-year-old Freddie Phelps Sr. and begged him to put the approximately 200-pound animal out of its misery.

A couple hours later, the workmen saw that people were attacking the animal with poles.

“They were beating the pig, hitting it in the face and it was squealing. They weren’t hitting it hard enough to kill it. They were mainly just torturing the thing, and the thing had to be in horrible pain,” Walls said.

The men called 911 and were referred to Macon-Bibb Animal Welfare, which called in Bibb County sheriff’s deputies.

Officers had been out to Kings Park Circle on Monday when someone reported a loose pig rooting around the subdivision.

A deputy took the pig back home, as was noted on the department’s Facebook page.

“A Bibb County deputy went above and beyond the call of duty this morning to bring home the bacon ... literally!”

Are you trying to tell me that the deputy didn't notice the pig's injuries??

Officers had no idea the owner was reportedly fattening up the animal for slaughter, as was evident by the “We love a happy ending!” social media post.

 

OK, the reporter who posted this story is an idiot. Nothing makes sense. It makes it sound as though this deputy gave this injured pig back to its owner. NO! That's not what happened. 

I poked around and found that the pig had gotten loose on MONDAY. At that time, nothing was wrong with the poor pig. Deputies returned the pig to its owner. 

Then on WEDNESDAY the owner apparently asked this moron named Freddie Phelps Sr. to KILL the pig so she could eat it. How was she going to transport a dead pig to a processing plant for her, I guess she's too stupid to have thought that far ahead. So then, the moron Freddie Phelps Sr. says he'll kill the pig for her and proceeds to TORTURE THE PIG FOR HOURS.

Macon-Bibb Animal Welfare Director Sonja Adams and Sgt. Cson Johnson found the wounded animal behind a house in the 3300 block of Kings Park Circle.

Phelps and Michelle Fuller said they were asked by the pig’s owner, Gertha Atis, to kill the pig, according to an incident report.

Atis was in Atlanta to buy a freezer.

She reportedly had purchased adopted the pet off Craigslist weeks ago.

DO NOT SELL YOUR PETS ON CRAIGSLIST! THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS!

Trampled dog food and scraps of moldy bread were on her front stoop Wednesday, but no one answered a knock at the door.

Empty packages of Vienna sausages and St. Louis-style ribs littered her yard.

“It was a pet pig,” Johnson said. “This wasn’t a hog you slaughter.”

The animal was suffering so much that Adams and Johnson asked a deputy to shoot it. A shot between the eyes, followed by one behind the ear, ended the ordeal.

The carcass was taken for a necropsy, according to a sheriff’s release, but [apparently the owner wanted its body for its meat].

Phelps, of Jeffersonville Road, was charged with aggravated animal cruelty and is being held in the Bibb County jail.

Animal welfare officers also removed a few dogs from the neighborhood in the course of their ongoing investigation, the workmen said.

“The most gross thing that is going to stick in my head is the pig with the pickax in its back,” Montgomery said. “People get hungry and they do crazy things, but I would have gladly gone to the store and bought them some bacon and ham if they’d left the pig alone.”

WHO IS GERTHA ATIS?
Well, if this is the same Gertha Atis, who calls herself Pastor-Getha Atis (she also goes by "Gertha Atis-Ministries"), she is a homophobe:

 

(Miami Herald - Aug 25, 2016)

New Jersey: Richard Bijacsko, 51, confessed to killing puppy with axe

NEW JERSEY -- A Springfield man is accused of beating a puppy to death, then claiming the 6-month-old pit bull had been struck by a car, authorities said Friday.

Richard Bijacsko, 51, confessed to killing the dog after officers confronted him with inconsistencies in his story, according to the Burlington County SPCA Humane Police.

Bijacsko told officers he hit the puppy twice with the back side of an ax, then left the dog’s body in a recycling bucket at a Florence motel on Monday night, police allege.

The puppy’s owner, who was not identified, lives at the motel but was not allowed to keep the dog there, police said. The owner had taken the puppy to a Springfield farm to be watched by Bijacsko.

According to police, Bijacsko said the dog “caused some problems for him so he ‘took him out.’”

Under initial questioning, Bijacsko claimed the dog had broken its leash and run into the path of a vehicle on Route 68.

"He said he carried the dog into the house and then put him in a recycling bucket and took the dog back to the owner and dropped it off," says a police account.

But a search found no evidence of an accident on the highway, and Bijacsko claimed he could not remember where the dog was struck "because he had been drinking," the account says.

A veterinarian then X-rayed the puppy's skull and found multiple fractures. "In the opinion of the vet, the injuries were not consistent with those typically seen in an accident involving an animal and a vehicle," the police account notes.

Bijacsko was charged with inflicting unnecessary cruelty to a living creature, cruelly beating a living creature and causing the death of a living creature.

He also was arrested by Springfield police for a weapons offense related to the case, then was released on $5,500 bail, authorities said. Police said they recovered the ax that was used to attack the dog.

The arrest followed a joint investigation by the Humane Police, Animal Control Officer George Ondusko and Springfield and Florence police officers.

(Courier Post Online - April 23, 2016)

Injustice in Florida: After choking Schnauzer Sheltie mix Emmit and then chopping off his head, Jerry Sullivan, 46, gets probation

FLORIDA -- A Greene County Judge sentenced a Jasonville man to one-year probation and four months home detention last week for cutting his dog's head off with an ax and tossed the body along a county road on Sept. 14.

46-year-old Jerry Sullivan plead guilty to animal cruelty charges.

Jasonville police arrested Sullivan, October 2 after a warrant was issued for his arrest.

Police learned about the dog after they were called by a woman on September 14 to assist her getting her personally belongings from a home she shared with Sullivan in the 420 block of North Park Street in Jasonville. The woman told police she needed their assistance because she feared for her life.

The woman told police the night before that she and Sullivan had been bathing the couple's Sheltie/Schnauzer mixed breed dog and while cutting some tangles out of the dog's fur the dog yelped, turned and snapped at them. That made Sullivan angry. The dog got away and Sullivan began chasing the dog around the house with an iron pipe trying to hit the dog.

Sullivan finally caught the dog, put a leash around the dog's neck and began choking it. He then told the woman to take the dog outside and put it on a chain.

In the commotion, Sullivan's German Shepherd dog ran out the door and took off, which angered him more and yelled if he didn't find the Shepherd he was going to kill the other dog, Emmit.

According to the probable cause affidavit, the couple searched for the Shepherd but were unable to find it. After returning home between 1 a.m. to 2 a.m. That is when Sullivan took an ax outside and then came back inside covered in blood. He had chopped Emmit's head off.

Sullivan was interviewed at the police station, where he first denied killing the dog. But then allegedly broke down saying "I killed the dog! I killed the dog, the dog bit me, I have anger problems and I killed the dog!"

Sullivan then took police back to his home where police recovered the bloody axe with fur on it. Sullivan then took police to where he disposed the decapitated dog along a county road just north of his home.

Sullivan was arrested, but was released a short time later after posting a $400 cash bond.

(WBIW - Dec 22, 2015)

Man who severed cat's head, sexually abused minor sent to prison

ILLINOIS -- A 20-year-old Sibley man who used an axe to sever the head of a household cat in 2012 was sent to prison this week for violating the probation he received in that case.

Sheldon R. Taulbee, who listed an address at 112 N. Madison St. in Sibley, was charged in Ford County Circuit Court in September 2012 with one count of aggravated cruelty to animals, a Class 4 felony. He was later sentenced to 18 months of probation and was ordered to receive a psychiatric evaluation.

On May 12, Taulbee admitted he violated his probation by having sexual contact with a girl under age 18, and he was sentenced by Judge Matt Fitton to three years in state prison for the probation violation. State’s Attorney Randy Yedinak said three years is the maximum prison sentence for a Class 4 felony.

Taulbee also was sentenced May 12 to six years in prison — to run concurrent with the three-year prison term — after pleading guilty to aggravated criminal sexual abuse, a Class 2 felony.

Yedinak said the female victim was between 13 and 17 years old, and the sexual contact occurred on Jan. 30, 2015.

Taulbee will be required to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life once released from the Illinois Department of Corrections, Yedinak said. He also will be required to serve two years of mandatory supervised release after he is let out of prison. He will receive 56 days of credit for time already served at the Ford County Jail.

Taulbee had faced a prison sentence ranging from three to seven years for the aggravated criminal sexual abuse charge.

“In my experience I have learned that, often times, the criminal justice system deals with two types of criminals — those that we are mad at and those that we are scared of,” Yedinak said in a statement.

“The two should be treated differently. As a prosecutor, my job is to determine which one is which, and handle their cases accordingly. The sentences received on Taulbee ... are indicative of very serious, dangerous crimes. Sex offenses involving minors are easily the most difficult cases any prosecutor has to deal with.”

(Paxton Record - May 14, 2015)

Kevin Dixon Offers To Walk Neighbor’s Dog, Kills The Dog Instead

UNITED KINGDOM -- Kevin Dixon’s neighbor was initially pleased when he kindly offered to take her dog for a walk. However, the seemingly kind gesture turned into a horrific fatality because he killed her dog.

According to Metro, Amanda Hamer had suffered a whiplash injury following a car accident she was in. Since she couldn’t walk the dog herself, 35-year-old Dixon offered to do it for her. However, the dog’s walk didn’t last very long, because Dixon allegedly struck the dog with an axe after they left Hamer’s home.

Kevin Dixon

According to court documentation, the dog was struck with the axe seven times. Dixon reportedly justified killing the dog by insisting that it was dangerous. The dog had bitten people on a number of occasions. It was confirmed that neighbors had reported the dog, but to no avail.

Dixon then took it upon himself to seek retribution for the dog’s previous alleged actions because he feared the dog’s next victim may be a child.

To make matters worse, he insists he didn’t cause the dog any “unnecessary suffering” because it reportedly died within 10 seconds of the brutal beating.

“He is regretful and it was not his intention to cause suffering to the animal,” Dixon’s attorney, Catherine McCullagh explained. “Clearly Mr Dixon’s actions are undesirable, if I can put it that way, as well as being found to be illegal. It was not the act of killing the animal. It was the causing of unnecessary suffering. The suffering would have been relatively short, a maximum of 10 seconds.”

The horrific way Dixon chose to kill the dog was considered “an inappropriate and inhumane manner.” Dixon was ultimately found guilty of animal cruelty.

Although Hamer felt the horrific assault should have come with grave consequences, unfortunately, justice won’t be served where Hamer is concerned, because apparently Dixon will not face jail time.

According to Examiner, Dixon was actually charged because of how he chose to kill the dog instead of the horrific act itself. The loophole actually enabled him to escape time behind bars.

“The sentence is too light for somebody who has taken a member of the family,” Hamer said.
“Tempa was part of the family, my daughter’s best friend. She absolutely loved him – she has had an awful time through this.”

It has been reported that Dixon received an 18-week prison sentence that has been suspended for two years. He is also not allowed to own an animal for 10 years. Of course, the ruling has sparked controversy, as many readers have raised questions about loopholes in animal cruelty laws.

(The Inquisitr - Apr 9, 2015)

Pug dies after attack by pit bulls

OREGON -- Maggie's owner, Annie Stark, said her dog died Saturday night.

Original story below.

TROUTDALE, Ore - Two pit bulls are in quarantine at the Multnomah County Animal Shelter after attacking a pug in a Troutdale neighborhood Friday morning, according to shelter officials.

The pug, a 7-year-old female named Maggie, was still awaiting surgery as of Friday afternoon according to her owner, Annie Stark.

Stark said the pit bulls were running loose in front of her house on southeast Beavercreek Lane at around 9 a.m. Friday.

 

 

Stark said the dogs were friendly toward her teenage son. But when her son went inside their home, the pit bulls started scratching at her front door.

When she cracked it open to shoo them way, they grabbed onto her pug.

The larger dogs dragged her pug across the front yard and into the street.

Stark said she kicked them and hit them with her broom and even tried to poke their eyes, but they wouldn't let go.

Next, she grabbed a splitting maul from her shed, and yelled for help.

"I ran and got it because the broom wasn't doing anything and I had nothing and my son was in there and the dogs would not let go of that little tiny dog," Stark said.

Her neighbor grabbed the maul and hit the pit bulls with the blunt end.

It took several strikes before they let go, Stark said.

"It was several minutes of all of us trying to get these dogs off, pulling them and kicking them," Stark said. "I've never seen anything like it in my life."

Maggie suffered bit marks and cuts to both sides of her body.

Multnomah County Animal Control took control of both pit bulls as it investigates the incident.
A scan for microchips showed that one of the dog belonged to an owner in Beaverton.

The other dog did not have a microchip.

It's unclear at this point what may happen to them, shelter officials said. But, if they are released back to their owners at some point, they'll be required to remain in a secure area and on leash.

"We will level these dogs at a level two, which simply means they have to be in a secure enclosure and outside of the secure enclosure, they'll have to be leashed," said animal control Chief Field Supervisor Randall Brown.

Brown said if the dogs are returned to their owners, officers will do a home inspection to make sure the owners are in compliance.

(kgw.com - October 12, 2014)

Accused dog killer has new puppy at home, despite judge's ruling

OREGON -- A man who admitted to police that he [chopped his dogs up with an axe and killed] his dogs because, [according to him], he couldn’t afford to take care of them now has a puppy at home – despite a judge’s order against it.

Japheth (J.P.) Daniel Stalcup, 25, is awaiting trial on aggravated animal abuse charges in connection to the November alleged killings of his two dogs. As part of his conditions to be free from jail is the order of “no possession or living with any animals.”

Acting on a tip from a viewer that Stalcup had a puppy, KATU visited his home in Eagle Creek, Ore., on Monday. We talked to Stalcup’s wife, Rose Stalcup. She admitted they had the puppy, but said it was OK. She also said the couple had the puppy before the judge's ruling.

“It’s legal. We’ve already looked into it,” she said, then ordering KATU to leave the property.

  

  

Reached by telephone, J.P. Stalcup also said his lawyer cleared it with a judge to have pets at home. However, prosecutors said the defendant is not allowed to be in a home with animals.

Attempts to reach Stalcup’s attorney on Monday were not successful.

It is standard for defendants awaiting trial on animal abuse charges to not have contact with animals.

The investigation of Stalcup, 25, began when he initially told police his dogs had gone missing and that he later found Buddy and Duke dead about 100 yards from the house. Both dogs had been killed with an axe.

Stalcup gave an interview to KATU in November, decrying the disturbing nature of the dog slayings.

Back in November, Mrs. Stalcup said she was 'horrified'

Back in November, when he was still pretending he
hadn't chopped up his own dogs and killed them.

“What happens if, you know, they do that a couple more times and all of the sudden they’re not happy with – it’s not giving them as much jollies as it was the first couple times – so what are they gonna do next?,” Stalcup said in November.

As the police investigation progressed, he eventually admitted to killing the dogs with an axe because he couldn’t think of an alternative to caring for them.

[He tells police he chopped up his other dogs because he couldn't afford them... but can now afford this new dog???]

(KATU - Feb 25, 2013)

Earlier:

• Owner confesses to killing 2 dogs with ax
• Family seeks answers after dogs bludgeoned to death in Eagle Creek

Owner confesses to killing 2 dogs with ax

OREGON -- An Eagle Creek man admitted to deputies this week that he slayed both his dogs with an axe last year because he allegedly could not afford their care.

Japheth Daniel Stalcup, 25, was taken into custody Wednesday on two counts of first-degree aggravated animal abuse and one count of initiating a false police report.

On Nov. 15, 2012, Stalcup contacted deputies to report that his dogs, Buddy and Duke, had gone missing Nov. 13, and he had found them dead in a wooded area about 100 yards from his house.

According to the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office, he told deputies at the time that he did not know who killed them.

However, on Wednesday, following a three-month investigation, Stalcup confessed to authorities that he killed them with an ax on Nov. 12, and then dumped their bodies over an embankment behind his property. He said he did this because he could no longer afford their care and knew no other alternative, the sheriff’s office reports.

[Seriously? What a ridiculous excuse. Take them to a shelter, give them away. He could have even turned them loose. How do you kill a dog with an axe? How many times did he chop at them while they tried to get away? Odious, vile man.]

Duke was a black Labrador and Buddy was a Labrador/Blue Heeler mix.

Necropsies showed that both Duke and Buddy died from "clean" blows from some sort of sharp implement.

Stalcup was lodged in the Clackamas County Jail.

(KOIN - Feb 8, 2013)

Earlier:

• Family seeks answers after dogs bludgeoned to death in Eagle Creek

Family seeks answers after dogs bludgeoned to death in Eagle Creek

OREGON -- An Eagle Creek family is out to find the person responsible for the bludgeoning death of their two dogs that escaped a week ago Monday while construction was going on at home.

The family tells KOIN that a neighbor found the remains of one of their dogs while hunting. The other dog was found dead nearby. Both dogs had slicing wounds, described as "clean" and initially thought by the family to be made by a hatchet.

On Tuesday the Clackamas County Sheriff's Office distributed the following in a news release:

"On Thursday, November 15, 2012, at about 5 p.m., a resident of Eagle Creek called 9-1-1 to report that he had found his two dogs dead -- presumably killed with an ax -- in a wooded area behind his property. The dogs had been missing since Monday, November 13.

"Japheth (JP) Stalcup, (aka Japheth Stalcup) age 25, called Clackamas County 9-1-1 to report finding his two missing dogs dead in the wooded area behind his house in the 24000 block of SE Sweetwater Lane. He told the dispatcher his dogs looked like they had been bludgeoned with an ax.

"A Clackamas County Sheriff's Office deputy arrived and was told by Mr. Stalcup that his two dogs -- Duke, a black Labrador, and Buddy, a Labrador and Blue Heeler mix -- had been missing since Monday.

"Mr. Stalcup had located both dogs down a steep embankment within 100 yards from his house.

"The deputy was able to locate both of the dogs. Both Duke and Buddy had serious injuries consistent with Mr. Stalcup's belief they had been bludgeoned with an axe. The deputy also noted there were no other injuries on the animals -- ruling out the likelihood of a predator animal attack.

"The bodies of both dogs were seized, and necropsies were performed by veterinarians at the Oregon Humane Society. The vets confirmed that both Duke and Buddy died from blows from some sort of sharp implement.

"A deputy is assigned this investigation -- with potential charges of Aggravated Animal Abuse I in the deaths of both dogs.

(KOIN - Nov 20, 2012)

North Carolina: Two men "chewed up pretty badly" by their two pit bulls. Had to beat one in the head with an axe handle. Owner of dogs, Chris Vaughn, says he wants the pit bulls back

NORTH CAROLINA -- Two men were injured Wednesday morning when they were attacked by two pit bulls in their home on the 5700 block of McDougal Drive, authorities said.

Jamel Washington, whose age was not available, and Joseph Askew, 32, suffered flesh wounds after being bitten between 7 and 7:30 a.m., said Dr. John Lauby, director of Cumberland County Animal Control.

Washington was about to let the two dogs outside when one dog bit the other dog, officials said. When the attacked dog turned around, it then bit Washington.

Washington called for Askew to help him. Askew came downstairs, grabbed an ax handle and struck the dog in an attempt to get it off Washington, Lauby said. The second dog then attacked Askew.

"They were chewed up pretty badly," he said.

The owner of the dogs, Christopher Vaughn, whose age was not available, was not there when the attack happened. Lauby said Vaughn responded to the home after the incident.

Animal Control officers came to the house and took the dogs. One was locked inside a bedroom, and the other was located under the home, Lauby said.

Animal Control will investigate to determine whether the dogs will be declared dangerous, Lauby said.

Vaughn told Animal Control that he wants the dogs returned, Lauby said.

(Fay Observer - August 16, 2012)

Georgia: Inmate William Gunn, 23, facing charge for beating puppy to death with axe at shelter

GEORGIA -- William Gunn, a 23-year-old inmate at the Upson County Jail, faces a new charge of cruelty to animals after allegedly bludgeoning a puppy to death while working as a trustee at the Upson County Animal Shelter.

Major Dan Kilgore of the Upson County Sheriff’s Office, said his office was notified of the March 13 incident by Smart Webb, the shelter’s director.

According to Kimberly Davis, who identified herself as Gunn’s fiancé, the trustee struck the dog because it did not die after receiving euthanasia drugs.

“The puppy was given the drugs, but it came back to life,” she said. “On the way out to the incinerator, it started yelping and jerking and stuff like that. He didn’t know what to do, so he whopped it and put it out of its misery.”

Kilgore said Gunn initially claimed to have struck the puppy with a brick, but upon the responding deputy’s arrival, he noted a bloodied ax handle, which Gunn later acknowledged he had utilized to kill the animal.

“Instead of taking it back inside so more of the euthanasia drug could be given, he took it upon himself to kill the dog himself,” Kilgore said. “Essentially, he had to be charged. Even though the animal was being euthanized, that was a cruel act.”

Davis said Gunn did not realize he had done anything wrong, an assertion she claims is bolstered by the fact that the act was not witnessed by the shelter staff, who would have been unaware of the incident had Gunn not immediately informed them of what had taken place.

“Yes, he (Gunn) told what happened, but how do you not think it’s cruel to beat a puppy to death?” Kilgore countered.

Davis also complained that Gunn “wasn’t even supposed to be there,” and that as an animal lover, it was “hard for him to be there and see all that.”

However, Kilgore explained that Gunn, who was at the time of the incident serving a 120-day sentence for disorderly conduct, was slated to be there.

“He was an inmate and he was assigned to the shelter; that was his assigned task,” he said.

Upson County Manager Kyle Hood also responded to Davis’s claim that Gunn “wasn’t supposed to be there,” by saying if the trustee did not want to be assigned to the animal shelter, he had the option of speaking with the jail captain and expressing his concerns.

“There are always options,” he said. “But he certainly had no right to take matters into his own hands.”

Kilgore went on to explain that all inmates who work in the capacity as a trustee have been convicted and are in the process of serving their sentences.

“We can’t send anyone not in that capacity – under sentence – out to work,” he continued. “It’s against the law.”

Furthermore, he said that trustees are typically those individuals who have been convicted of nonviolent crimes. The Upson County Jail does not utilize inmates who are awaiting transfer into the Georgia penal system for work details, a decision made in the best interest of Upson County residents.

“You have to weigh the risk. We’re not going to put someone out there who’s a danger to the public or a flight risk,” Kilgore said.

Hood described those who work in the capacity of a trustee as “decent people” who are incarcerated on charges such as child support violations or technical violations of their parole.

“They come in and out of my own office unattended and I don’t question them,” he said. “They’re just a product of a cyclical system that once you’re in, is difficult to get out of.”

Kilgore and Hood both stated that trustee laborers receive an orientation from the department supervisor to which they’ve been assigned.

Hood added that the amount of training would be dependent upon two criteria – the length of their incarceration, as well as frequency of incarcerations and which department they’re working for, but said the trustees are primarily used for menial tasks.

“Most everything they would be used for isn’t very labor intensive or require much education,” he said. “The trustee would have had no responsibility but to transport the animal from the euthanizing area to the incinerator, and those two places aren’t very far apart.”

In response to the Gunn’s alleged act of animal cruelty, Hood said to the best of his knowledge, this is the first incident of its kind.

“In no other cases do I know of any trustee having anything to do with the euthanasia of animals,” he said. “I would consider this an isolated incident. I would not consider this as something that the citizens should be concerned about happening frequently.

“In an instance where there is animal cruelty, we will prosecute it. Smart (Webb) immediately called the Sheriff’s Office and reported the incident. He did the right thing, and Smart has my full support.”

He also stated that the Upson County Animal Shelter is tasked with a difficult responsibility, and that he has full confidence in Webb and the shelter staff.

“Part of our mission, while we’re not a humane society, is care giving. We would love to never have to put a cat or dog down, but unfortunately, it is part of our responsibility. I would hate to think what Upson County would look like if we didn’t have responsible animal control,” Hood said. “Smart has a tough job; I wouldn’t want to do it. What we do is legal, ethical and moral, but we only do it because we have to.”

(Thomaston Times - May 4, 2012)