Resident dog vs. Family Dog
What is the difference between a “family dog” and a “resident dog?”
Abuse, neglect, cruelty in Alabama:
Ruben Hedgemon Jr., and one of his starving dogs
November 2009: A Tuscaloosa County man was arrested and charged with cruelty to animals after sheriff’s deputies found 12 emaciated and injured dogs at his home in Cottondale.
Tuscaloosa County Sheriff’s deputies investigating a child abuse case at the home of Ruben Hedgemon Jr., 33, of 3701 Clements Road, in Lot No. 4 of the trailer park on Monday saw the 12 American pit bulls and pit bull mixes tethered by heavy chains in the yard, Sheriff Ted Sexton said. Some of the dogs showed evidence of dog fighting and all had been starved, he said. Others had injuries and infections. A dog’s skull was also found on the property.
One 27-pound dog was tethered to a 33-pound heavy-gauge steel chain, 38-pound dog was tethered to a 31-pound chain and a dog weighing 39 pounds was tethered to a 21-pound chain.
Two of the confiscated dogs attended a news conference at the Sheriff’s Office’s hangar at the Tuscaloosa Municipal Airport Friday morning. They appeared friendly, were wagging their tails and receiving attention from deputies.
A hearing will be held in Tuscaloosa District Court if Hedgemon does not relinquish control of the dogs. All of them were taken to Tuscaloosa Metro Animal Shelter after deputies served a search warrant at the home Thursday.
“The healthiest one is not very healthy,” said veterinarian Jimmy Canant, who accompanied deputies who confiscated the dogs. “Some just need nursing care, some need more aggressive medical therapy. They can be adopted if they are nursed back to health.”
One of the dogs at the conference had a chronic wound on his leg that had worsened because it had not been treated, Canant said. The same dog had scars on his face that were likely caused by a dog fight, he said.
The animals also suffered from intestinal parasites.
“Every one of them was ravenously hungry,” Canant said.
A grand jury will hear evidence of the child abuse allegations and decide whether Hedgemon will be charged in that case, Sexton said. Hedgemon is a convicted sex offender who was released from prison in 2001 on a first-degree rape charge, according to the state’s sex offender registry. The child abuse investigation does not include sexual-abuse allegations, Sexton said.
Cruelty to a dog or cat in the second degree is a Class A misdemeanor in Alabama.
The law states that a person commits the crime “if he or she, in a cruel manner, overloads, overdrives, deprives of necessary sustenance or shelter, unnecessarily or cruelly beats, injures, mutilates or causes the same to be done.”
If he is found guilty, Hedgemon could spend up to a year in prison and pay a fine of up to $6,000.
October 2009: – A Prattville couple is facing felony animal cruelty charges after not giving their dog food or water over a long period of time. Officials found the dog dead at a home on Gardenia Road. It was still chained to a tree. The suspects, Robert Daniel Kiddy, 23 and Susan Laverne Williams Kiddy, 29 could face from one to ten years in prison for the crime if convicted. The couple, apparently separated, lived at different addresses, and the dog was left under Susan Kiddy’s care. Both suspects were arrested and placed in the Autauga Metro Jail on $15,000 bonds. The cruelty charge is a Class C felony.
September 2009: Mobile County officials say 27 dogs have been confiscated from a home and that dogfighting equipment and a fighting pit also were found there. A man who lives on the property, 60-year-old James Hancock, was arrested on a charge of first-degree marijuana possession after nine marijuana plants were found growing on the property. Nancy Johnson, a Mobile County spokeswoman, said the dogs, all pit bull and pit bull mixes were taken to the Mobile County Animal Shelter. Johnson says animal control officers were called to the residence, at a dead end at the bottom of a hill, after receiving a complaint about an injured animal.
June 2009: Uniontown – A pit bull puppy that Uniontown police found chained to a stake without food or water has been turned over to humane officials. An officer who was on foot patrol at Pershing Court found the puppy off a trail in a wooded area, according to a police report. Police said a heavy lock was used to secure the chain to the dog’s collar. The dog has been placed in the care of the Fayette Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, according to the report. An investigation is ongoing.
September 2008: Huntsville – Animal Services received a phone call from an unidentified resident about an owner beating his two dogs with a baseball bat. Officers arrived to find one dog dead and a pit-bull mix inside a trash can. The dog in the trash can was barely breathing with his skull cracked open and his eyes swollen shut. The staff at Chase Animal Hospital did not believe the dog would survive, but under their care, “Slugger,” not only survived, but was found to be a forgiving and joyful companion animal.
May 2008: Mobile - When Animal Control officers responded to a call about a severely emaciated dog they found a Basset hound in extreme distress. The dog had “hardly any muscle mass and was skin and bones.” The owner did not believe he was neglecting his dog and stated “I’ve been taking care of him, he just hasn’t been eating that much.” The dog was taken to an animal hosptial – it was unknown if he could recover.
December 2007: Ozark – A bail bondsman looking for a man found the remains of two pit bulls with their necks still tied to logging chains. Another dog was found half buried, and three malmourished dogs were discovered alive but barely able to stand. The scene led to arrest warrants for Anthony Williams, 28, and Tiffany Napper, 21, of Ozark. They were accused of six counts of felony dog fighting.
November 2007: Decatur - A 17-year-old was charged as an adult with felony cruelty to animals after hitting a pit bull in the head with a 2×4 and then trying to hang the dog from a swing. Police said the man “took the 2-year-old pit bull behind a house…took beer bottles and whiskey bottles and broke them over the dog’s head, then hit the dog in the head with a 2×4 with rusty nails in it, and then took a chain and tried to hang the dog from a swing set.” The dog was taken to a local veterinarian who treated the animal. Its outcome is unknown.
November 2007: Houston County - Convicted of possessing dogs with the intent to train them for fighting, Johnny Ray Lewis of Cottonwood was sentenced to 102 years in prison: six years for each of the 17 dogs police seized in the investigation.
September 2007: Montgomery - U.S. Marshals arrested Juan Daniels, 20, on felony animal cruelty charges. Daniels is accused of torturing his mother’s pit bull after she wouldn’t let him borrow her car. Daniels is accused of tying the dog to a post, beating it with a shovel, soaking the dog with lighter fluid and setting the animal on fire on September 7th. The dog, burned over 60 percent of his body, survived and drew widespread concern after photos of him were posted on the Internet. Workers at the Montgomery Humane Society shelter nicknamed the dog “Louis Vuitton” in recognition of a Mobile dog nicknamed “Gucci” after it survived being set afire in 1994. *
November 2006: Ozark - An Ozark man admitted running a dogfighting operation and was placed in hancuffs that were much lighter than the chains that prosecutors said he put around his dogs’ necks. Despite defense attorney Aaron Gartlan’s agrument that Timothy McLeod’s dog fighting operation had been “nonviolent,” Circut Judge Ben McLaughlin sentenced McLeod to 11 years in state prison; one year for each for the nine pit bulls and pit bull mixes that died, one year for possession of marijuana and one year for possession of a controlled substance.
In August, drug officers found the dogs and what appeared to be a fighting arena in McLeod’s backyard. Eleven dogs were bound with thick logging chains and had little to no food or water in their bowls, veterinarian Christa Bragg testified. Three dog corpses with chains still wrapped around their necks were found behind the arena. The nine other dogs were taken to a hospital and euthanized.
April 2006: Montgomery schoolchildren found a dead pit bull hanging from a chain on a playground swingset. Students at Martin Luther King Elementary School made the discovery when they arrived for classes in the morning. The pit bull, shot once and strung up by its neck, was a brown male and no more than a year old, said Ron Van Herwyn with the Montgomery County Humane Society. “This incident was brutal,” Van Herwyn said. “Anyone who would do something like this and leave it for kids to see is really bad.” Authorities had no suspects in the case.
August 2003: Mobile County - Kevin Beritech, 40, of Irvington, was arrested on animal cruelty charges after being accused of killing his girlfriend’s Rottweiler. The dog was found dead on the back porch with a bashed skull and slit throat. The violence apparently stemmed from a dispute between Beritech and his girlfriend. A second Rottweiler, also belonging to the girlfriend was found alive, hiding behind a shed with a deep gash across his throat. Beritech was charged with menacing, two counts of harassment and animal cruelty under the “Gucci law.” *
* The Gucci Law passed by the Alabama Legislature in 2000, is named after a Mobile dog who survived horrific torture. The charge carries up to 10 years in prison and up to $5,000 in fines.
People who fight dogs:
In Alabama, people who fight dogs can be charged with a Class C felony. Possession of dogs for fighting and being a spectator at a dogfight are also Class C felonies, punishable by prison terms of 1-10 years, and fines up to $5,000.
National Canine Research Council