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)

Dog attack: 'I had to do what I had to do'

NEW ZEALAND -- A 76-year-old man acted instinctively when he grabbed a pick axe handle to drive off two large dogs attacking two women out walking yesterday.

''Don't call me a hero. I had to do what I had to do,'' Mario Castellani said.

The Invercargill man watched the two women walk past his home just before noon, before the mastiff-cross dogs lunged at them, knocking both to the ground and biting them.

He did not think of his own safety when he grabbed a pick axe handle from his garage and ran along the street to their aid.

''I just wanted to help those innocent ladies. I love dogs. I've owned dogs over the years, but I've never seen [an attack] like that.''

The dogs were ''barking furiously and frothing at the mouth'' by the time he reached them.

He swung at them with the pick axe handle and shouted at them, which convinced the dogs to run back home, inside the open front door and upstairs.

''I stood at the front door. I shouted: `You come down here and I'll bloody whack you'.''

The women were taken to nearby Southland Hospital with dog bites.

Victim Jennifer Shaw (65), who lives several streets from where the attack happened, was last night nursing a dog bite to one knee and a graze to the other.

Her friend Lorraine Turner, in her 70s, was recovering at home with a broken arm and multiple dog bites after being discharged from hospital yesterday.

Both woman were in a state of shock.

''We were just out for a walk ... I just don't know why [the dog owners] didn't have their gate shut,'' one woman said.

As for walking around the neighbourhood again, she said: ''I will think about it in a wee while''.
A woman at the address where the dogs lived declined to comment.

Both animals, understood to be pig-hunting dogs, were handed over by the owners to animal control officers. Only one of the seized dogs was registered.

Several neighbours called emergency services and rushed to the injured women's aid.

Angela Jackson took towels to help stop the bleeding of the more seriously injured woman.
''She was lying on the ground and couldn't get up.''

The dogs and their owners had only moved into the property, on the corner of Henderson and Albany Sts, a few weeks ago.

Invercargill City Council environmental health and compliance manager John Youngson confirmed yesterday frequent complaints had been received about the dogs.

The property had been visited last week and the dog owner spoken to. But there had been nothing to suggest the dogs would act as they had, he said.

Neighbours told the Otago Daily Times the dogs roamed the area frequently, barking and chasing cars.

Dylan Shearer, who lives opposite, said the dogs could open a gate across the driveway by themselves and were ''always out''.

Gerard Jackson said he saw one of the dogs standing on his front doorstep a few days ago. It was large and intimidating, he said, but left when he shouted at it.

Mr Youngson said the council was reviewing bylaws concerning dogs.

Invercargill had a ''dog control problem'' and Mr Youngson acknowledged the latest incident would prompt calls to ban certain dog breeds.

''If you saw these dogs in the street, you would just think they were nice-looking dogs.''

The council was exploring legal action, Mr Youngson said.

He praised the actions of Mr Castellani and fellow neighbours, because ''it would have been far more serious, from the pictures I have seen.

''If it was a prolonged attack, I would hate to think what had happened.''

(Otago Daily Times - ‎Jan 12, 2015‎)

Earlier:

• Neighbour to rescue in dog attack

Neighbors saw red flags ahead of animal cruelty arrest

FLORIDA -- A dog was found dead, buried in a backyard. And, the owner tells investigators he did it. 30-year-old Galen Aune was arrested Thursday for animal cruelty after months of investigation.

It all started back in October. Neighbors on Papaya Street in St. James City told investigators they'd seen Aune chasing his dog, picking her up by the ears and throwing her.

One neighbor who was  too frightened to go on camera for fear of retaliation told WINK News she saw Aune punch the dog in the head and ribs, dragging her injured body back home.

"I don't see how anyone could do anything to an animal," neighbor Don Jedlik said.

Complaints led a Lee County Domestic Animal Services officer to Aune's doorstep. According to the report, Aune said, "Not a problem anymore. The dog is dead. I killed it."

When asked why, Aune replied, "She just looked at me funny and showed bad energy. I had to do something about it, for my health."

He later admitted to killing the dog using a pickaxe and burying it in the backyard.

"He was talking to one of my boys and said he had to put the dog under. I didn't know that he had done it," Jedlik said.

After a necropsy, deputies arrested Aune Thursday for animal cruelty. Aune's father told investigators his son has anger issues. We tried to talk to him at his house but got answer.

When asked if the dog was asked, neighbor Jody Colyer said, "That's the impression I got, that she was afraid to do something. It was horrible."
        
Neighbors who knew the dog well find the arrest hard to fathom.

"Nice guy, and the dog was beautiful," Skip Torres said. "He just took good care of the dog, walked it everyday, never yelled at it, never had to."

Aune remains in jail on a $50,000 bond. WINK News asked Animal Services what reasons led to the the animal cruelty charge being upgraded from a misdemeanor to a felony. They tell us the decision came from State Attorneys Office, which felt there was a strong enough case to pursue.

(Wink News - Mar 8, 2014)