APACHE COUNTY, AZ (AZFamily) — Animal advocates are raising concerns after body camera footage shows an Apache County Sheriff’s Deputy shooting and killing seven dogs at an abandoned property in Adamana, which is East of Holbrook, on Sept. 22, 2023.
Molly Ottman, Executive Editor and Journalist for the Mountain Daily Star, broke the story and shared the footage with Arizona’s Family.
In the video, a deputy is seen placing food and water inside a fenced enclosure. Seven dogs follow him inside.
Moments later, the deputy can be heard saying, “Oh God. This is gonna suck.”
He goes on to count the dogs and later shoots them. The deputy goes looking for two dogs that never got inside the enclosure but doesn’t get them.
The deputy later calls dispatch and says, “Seven dogs, dispatch. Two remain.”
Ashlyn Dighans, who lives near the property, said she watched the video. “I’m a pre-vet student of UofA, so it broke my heart,” she said.
Dighans said she had called the sheriff’s office last year out of concern for the dogs whose owners she said had left them to fend for themselves.
She explained that the owners had moved in in 2022 and needed help caring for the dogs. Dighans said she would feed them, but after her neighbors left, she wasn’t sure if she was legally allowed on the property.
“I didn’t feel comfortable feeding the dogs or watering the dogs until the sheriff’s officed deemed them abandoned. I didn’t know if I could get into any sort of trouble,” said Dighans.
According to the deputy’s report, he had checked out the property a couple of times in September after getting calls from neighbors about the dogs going after livestock and being left without food and water.
The deputy said he tried contacting the owners, with one of them telling him she was okay with the dogs being shot. Eventually, he was unable to contact her again or the the other owner, according to the paperwork.
The deputy stated in the report that he tried working with an animal shelter that was trying to help find a place for the dogs but wasn’t able to.
He stated he called a Sergeant to inform him of the situation and his plan to shoot the dogs due to their condition and no kennel availability. The deputy said the Sergeant agreed with the decision to shoot the dogs.
“Somebody should be held accountable for this event and what happened because it shouldn’t have happened,” said Dighans.
Dighans said the county doesn’t have animal control. She explained she and an animal rescue were able to rescue the two remaining dogs a month later. She said one is currently at a Flagstaff shelter, but the other one died after getting sick.
Arizona’s Family tried multiple times to get a comment from the Sheriff’s Office but has not heard back.
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