06-23-2011, 05:55 PM
I'm telling ya, if I believed in capital punishment, I would want to see this man put out of his misery. Seriously.
Looks like he will get misdemeanors only..after all, in a legal sense, dogs are considered property.
Caution: This story is heart breaking; I just can't believe these people are living among us.
http://www.examiner.com/pet-news-in-nati...z1Q9MR25Xv
Looks like he will get misdemeanors only..after all, in a legal sense, dogs are considered property.
Caution: This story is heart breaking; I just can't believe these people are living among us.
Quote:For the second time this month, a pet owner who should not be took revenge on the family pet for the unforgiveable crime of relieving itself inside the house.
The man, Daniel Stevens, 25, of Gouldsboro, Pennsylvania, shot his five-year-old German Shepherd after it lost control of its bladder indoors. The dog was wounded in the neck. After investigators arrived on the scene, it was taken to an animal clinic, but by then it had lost so much blood that the vet had no choice but to euthanize it.
Stevens admitted to the shooting, telling police he put the dog on a leash to control it as he took aim and pulled the trigger. He subsequently placed the bleeding dog inside a crate, leaving it for dead.
Lt. Will Laverty of the Pocono Mountain Regional Police Department said of the crime:
To me, and to all the officers here, we consider it to be quite horrible. To be honest with you, again, it's a dog who relies on us.
It's not something we like to see, I can tell you that.
Dr. Andrew Church, the vet who reluctantly administered the lethal injection, said:
It was a nice animal, and to see this kind of wound, to know how it was inflicted and those circumstances, is gut-wrenching to see this.
Police say they were alerted to the crime by some neighbors who heard gunshots followed by a whimpering dog.
Church believes Stevens' punishment should be severe.
Something like this, I think, should have some pretty significant ramifications for the pet owner to show people this isn't right, this isn't acceptable to do this.
Amen to that. Charges against the man, meanwhile, are pending. Tragically, they will most likely be misdemeanors and nothing more stringent.
A Pennsylvania state representative, Mario Scavello, has said he will be looking into creating harsher legislation to punish people who commit crimes against animals. Unfortunately, those laws will not come in time to affect the sentencing of Daniel Stevens and will come too late to help a dead German Shepherd.
http://www.examiner.com/pet-news-in-nati...z1Q9MR25Xv