Sometimes we hear or read about horrendous crimes against animals and feel so frustrated because there is nothing we can do to help them or to avenge their pain or murders. Here’s a case where we can do something; we can sign a petition calling for justice for a Nashville dog.
Please be warned that this is a very upsetting story.
Thanks to Terri Maddox for sharing this petition.
Here is what the Care2 Petition Site says about this crime. The text is from News Channel 5.com.
NASHVILLE, Tenn.- Five Nashville boys, accused of setting a dog on fire, appeared in court Thursday.
On Tuesday, four of the boys were booked into the juvenile detention center. The youngest boy was sent home, but all appeared in court Thursday.
A juvenile court judge Thursday placed three of the boys under house arrest; one boy was kept in detention and the fifth boy was sent to the custody of the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services.
The incident happened Sunday near an abandoned house. The boys are ages 9-14.
Metro Animal Control Officer Lina Hernandez said a witness reported seeing the animal “engulfed in flames.”
“I heard a dog screaming,” said Arthur Greer. “It sounded like someone beating a dog.” Greer was in his backyard when he saw what looked like a ball of fire coming down the street.
“He had flames from head to toe and he was running so fast he was burning,” Greer said. “He tried to lick himself when he was burning and his face caught on fire.”
Someone lit a dog on fire and five boys were accused of doing it.
“They used gasoline from a neighbor’s lawn mower or something and poured it on him,” said Billy Biggs, Metro Animal Control field operations Officer Billy Biggs. “They were holding him by the collar and somebody struck the lighter.”
Biggs is investigating the case.
“We charged all of them with aggravated animal cruelty, which is, in the state of Tennessee, a felony,” Biggs said.
Witnesses said when they saw the dog, they went after it, trying to help it, but they never found it.
“It broke my heart and scared me to death see something like that,” Greer said. Greer said he went after the boys and turned them in.
“I said, “Did you set the dog on fire?’ and they said, “no,'” Greer said. “So, I took them to the other kid’s house and we got all the children from there.”
One of the boys’ mothers said that her son admitted to the crime.
“My son had the gas,” she said. “He said he poured the gas on side of the dog and the other boy lit the match.” She said the boys are very sorry.
“They are kids that normally don’t set anything or anybody on fire,” she said.
