Not Every Dog Has Its Day

Each flag represents another dog carcass (courtesy of the Berkeley County Sheriff’s Office)

If you are an animal lover who is easily upset by stories of animal abuse and cruelty, then you may want to stop reading now. For the sake of awareness, though, I feel it necessary to share.

Deputies in Berkeley County, South Carolina responded to a complaint from the Goose Creek area. Apparently, there was some kind of foul stench coming from a man’s yard and the neighbors called the cops.

Authorities arrived at the home of Loney L. Garrett, an avid hunter who often uses dogs to track deer and rabbits, and began to search his property. What they discovered was both troubling and tragic.

Living on the property were roughly 40 dogs, all of whom were malnourished and sickly. But that’s not the worst part. For several hours, deputies uncovered and identified the remains of at least 200 more dogs, most of them unburied and left to rot in the yard.

That would definitely explain the stench.

Some of the deceased canines had died from natural causes, but others had been shot in the head, presumably by Garrett.

“This apparently has been going on for some time,” Officer Dan Moon said later. “I don’t know how many of [the rescued dogs] will make it. They are so emaciated, just skin and bones.”

Garrett was arrested on charges of animal cruelty and taken into custody, but his daughter-in-law claims that he’s not a “monster,” as many have taken to calling him.

If we don’t protect animals, who will? (Photo credit: epSos.de)

“He’s not a bad person. He’s not done anything wrong but love those animals,” Diane Luck said in Garrett’s defense. “Those are hunting dogs. They run. They carry their weight off. You don’t want no fat dog.”

Using a double negative in her statement was enough to convince me that Garrett couldn’t be as good and kind as Luck claimed. I was an English major, so to me it just made her sound ignorant. And if you think about it, someone would have to be ignorant to do something like this.

Most of the people I know would bury their pets if they truly cared about them.

Also, when you consider that this guy had nearly 250 dogs–some alive but most dead–the picture becomes even clearer. There is no doubt in my mind that animal cruelty occurred, so personally I hope they throw the book at this jackass.

And if monster is the word people associate with Garrett now, so be it. He certainly earned the title.