Arriving at a rural property, an #Arizona#sheriff’s deputy approaches a group of starving dogs behind a fence. Some are sleeping, others bark & wag their tails. The deputy lays out food & water to corral them, body-cam video shows.
The deputy then pulls out a gun & shoots them 1 by 1, killing 7, before dragging their bloodied bodies to his truck. He later dumped the bodies near RR tracks.
The #ApacheCounty#Sheriff’s Office, which serves ~65k people, maintains that the deputy did nothing wrong that day in Sept. Chief Deputy Roscoe Herrera said that since the county has no #AnimalControl service, deputies have discretion to handle #animal issues as they see fit. The deputy, Jarrod Toadecheenie, declined to comment.
But the incident in Adamana, #Arizona — an unincorporated community ~100 miles east of Flagstaff — has outraged local animal advocates….
In the incident rpt, Toadecheenie recommended that the couple who abandoned the dogs be charged w/ #AnimalCruelty. No charges had been filed as of Fri.
Herrera, the #sheriff’s chief deputy, said the situation had caused the community “distress.” “This tragic decision was made under extremely difficult circumstances due to a combination of limited resources, the willful neglect & abandonment of the dogs by their owners, & the considerable amt of time spent seeking assistance…”he said in a stmnt.
The #Arizona#HumaneSociety called the situation “entirely preventable” & lamented that the #sheriff’s office had not asked it for help.
“This awful incident lacked all compassion & judgement,” Jennifer Armbruster, a spox for the humane society, said in a stmnt. “And what is most clear is that establishing an #animal care & control service in #ApacheCounty is an absolute necessity to prevent something like this from happening in the future.”
John Pavlovitz rightly compares the (selective) outrage many Republicans are now expressing at Kristi Noem's braggadocious story about shooting a dog and a goat with the meh, thoughts-and-prayers response of these same folks to yet another school shooting.
"The cognitive dissonance required to rightly rail against the assassination of a puppy, while simultaneously ignoring or explaining away the nearly daily mass shootings of mothers, spouses, brothers, children, and best friends here is a sick marvel to behold."
An opinion piece published yesterday in the #BillingsGazette explores #CodyRoberts ' #torture of a young female #wolf in Daniel, #Wyoming. By now, most of you have heard the news or seen the disturbing photos and videos. We remain disgusted by the #cruelty, as does our partner and op-ed author #JeffEwelt.
In his op-ed, Jeff Ewelt, the Executive Director of #ZooMontana and a partner of The #RelistWolves Campaign,
• Sign this petition calling on #SubletteCounty officials to bring more severe charges against #CodyRoberts in effort to hold him accountable and deter others from attempting similar acts of #cruelty.
Contact #Wyoming State officials including Governor #MarkGordon, at 307-777-7434, and #WyomingGameAndFishDepartment Director, #BrianNesvick, at 307-777-4600. Please be polite and respectful in your comment, but emphasize that the world is watching. Here are three talking points for your call:
The recent incident where a #wolf was chased, injured, and killed, is #AnimalCruelty and tarnishes the reputation of the state.
It was 2014, & #ErinHawley was fighting against the egg-laying hens of #Missouri. Specifically, a new req that chicken cages have enough space for the hens to stand up, turn around & stretch out. [#AnimalCruelty]
A #law prof rom 5 generations of ranchers & the wife of Sen #JoshHawley, Ms. Hawley joined a challenge to #California, which req more spacious enclosures for hens laying eggs to be sold there.