Animal lovers call for felony laws as neighbors fight over cats, dogs

Published Tuesday, October 21, 1997

Pet peeves turn deadly with poisonings Animal lovers call for felony laws as neighbors fight over cats, dogs By JONATHAN DUBE Staff Writer Bonnie Long always thought the mesh fence around her yard would protect her beloved terriers. Now she's terrified to let them out of sight.Taurus, Little Girl and Curly Sue were playing in her yard last summer when a neighbor revved up a lawn mower. From her tool shed, Long could hear the dogs barking away at the noise. Suddenly she heard Curly Sue howl -- a sharp, piercing cry -- and then a whimper. ``She ran up to me and was soaking wet,'' said Long, who lives in Chester County, S.C. ``When she put her face up to me, she smelled of ammonia. I was horrified.'' No one keeps track of how often people accuse their neighbors of throwing ammonia in their pets' faces, or poisoning them with antifreeze, or shooting them with air rifles. But animal-rights advocates say it's happening more and more in the growing suburbs of Charlotte, as new development forces strangers to live side by side, in greater proximity, with less space for four-legged creatures to roam. ``These are exactly the kinds of conflicts that arise out of suburban growth,'' said Randall Lockwood, a psychologist and vice president of the Humane Society of the United States, who has observed similar trends across the country. ``Your neighbor's dog poops on your lawn, and you retaliate by going to his yard and poisoning his dog.'' Among the Charlotte-area incidents this year: On Sunday, a man reported to Charlotte-Mecklenburg police that a neighbor shot his dog and another dog in a neighborhood off West Boulevard. The neighbor had threatened to kill the dogs if their owners didn't keep them away from the birds on his property, a police report said. An east Charlotte woman laced canned tuna with antifreeze last month and left it out, killing at least three neighborhood cats, police said. In Hickory, someone shot Eric Starnes' 10-month-old kitten, Mittens, four times with a pellet gun in July, temporarily paralyzing her. In southeast York County, S.C., Ann Dawkins told police her 2-year-old German shepherd Samson died in July after drinking from a bowl of antifreeze on a neighbor's property. In a West Concord neighborhood, at least seven cats have died of antifreeze poisoning within the last month, said Betsy Carpenter, president of Cabarrus County Animal Control. None of those cases led to criminal charges. Every county has its share of unsolved pet crimes, which is why animal-rights advocates in both Carolinas are pushing lawmakers to make animal cruelty a felony. ``We have a lot of people moving to places like Chester County, who didn't grow up in rural areas like this, and their neighbors have been there forever, raising hunting dogs and letting them roam all over the place,'' said Teresa Gibbs, director of Chester County Animal Control. ``The dogs start getting on their neighbors' nerves, and then the dogs suddenly disappear. But there's no great dog magician. What happens is somebody will poison or shoot the dog and then just go and dump the body somewhere.'' John Hunter hasn't shot any dogs but says he sure has thought about it. One of his neighbors in Chester County has 10 dogs; another has 20. They run across his property, they howl throughout the night, and they don't give him any peace. ``I would love to take a gun to them,'' said Hunter, who has lived on Melnunnery Road since he built a house there last year. ``I don't blame the animals, though. They ought to take the owners and shoot them.'' No one tracks pet killings because they rarely are prosecuted. But a nationwide Humane Society survey found that 16 percent of Americans have witnessed animal cruelty in the past five years, though 58 percent did not report the incidents. That translates into hundreds of thousands of cases a year, Lockwood said. Evidence is hard to come by. Stricken pets often return home to curl up and die, so it's difficult to determine where they were shot or poisoned. And even if you can find a bowl filled with antifreeze or a piece of meat laced with poison, that's not enough. ``Whether the dog is dead or not, it's not going to be able to say anything,'' said Maggie Nelson, the animal control officer for Union County. ``You about have to see a neighbor do it.'' Long, for example, told police her neighbor threw ammonia in her dog's face, but officers wouldn't press charges because she didn't see anything and the neighbor denied it. She got so upset that she yelled at her neighbor, who responded by filing breach of peace and assault charges; Long was convicted and fined $400. She's thankful, though, that Curly Sue escaped relatively unharmed, with just minor eye damage. Even when there is evidence, activists say that investigators and lawyers don't take complaints seriously, because penalties are too weak: In South Carolina, the maximum punishment for animal cruelty, a misdemeanor, is two years in prison or $2,000; in North Carolina, it's one year or $1,000. ``Law enforcement people just deem these cases unworthy of their limited time,'' said Henry Brzezinski, a former board member of the S.C. State Animal Care and Control Association. North Carolina's House passed a bill in May that would make animal cruelty a felony, but it stalled in a Senate committee. South Carolina's Senate passed a similar bill this year, but it got stuck in a House committee. Both bills are expected to be reconsidered next term. In the 17 states where animal cruelty is a felony, prosecutions are more common and more successful, said Pamela Frasch, the director of the animal cruelty division of the Animal Legal Defense Fund. ``When you have a felony penalty, it does make people sit up, pay attention and take it more seriously,'' Frasch said. Most Charlotte-area counties have some form of leash law, although many are weak and rarely enforced. Lincoln County has an unusual law that lets anyone file a nuisance complaint against a neighbor if their pet runs on their property, gets into trash, urinates in their yard or tears up shrubbery. Anyone named could face a $50 fine, said Tony Davis, Lincoln's senior animal control officer. ``We've had a lot of success with this,'' Davis said. ``Instead of somebody doing something to the dog, they do it to the owner, whose fault it is anyway.'' Animal lovers say owners should take their own precautions to protect their pets. Rock Hill veterinarian Lorin Lawrence, a member of York County's Animal Issues Task Force, said keeping pets out of trouble is up to the owners, and urges them to keep their pets on leashes, fenced in or indoors. But sometimes an owner can do everything right and still have things go wrong. At a Labor Day party in Stanly County, Charlotte lawyer Mac Sasser's 2-year-old Jack Russell terrier, Rumi, was shot with an air rifle from a neighboring property. Sasser ran to Rumi and cradled him in his arms, but there was nothing he could do. After a minute, he felt Rumi tense up and die. A sheriff's deputy questioned a neighbor, who denied firing the rifle. But a few days later, Sasser said the neighbor's attorney called him and offered to pay whatever Rumi was worth. Sasser decided he'd rather press charges. ``I don't care about the freakin' money,'' Sasser said. ``All I want is my dog back, and he can't give me that.'' Mac Sasser plays with his Jack Russell terriers, Houdini and Emma, in Charlotte. His other terrier, Rumi, was shot and killed during a Labor Day party in Stanly County. He buried Rumi in the back yard beneath a dogwood tree, a gift from his sister. Read More Observer Clips