A Pennsylvania man has pleaded guilty to shooting his two pit bulls at a local dump, killing one and leaving the other wounded.
Quincy Cowans, 28, entered the plea on June 7 to multiple counts of cruelty to animals and was sentenced him to five years of probation. He’s also forbidden from owning any animals for the next decade.
A criminal complaint says Glassport police got a call on Dec. 28, 2018, about an injured animal at the dump just south of Pittsburgh.
When the animal control officers arrived, according to CBS Pittsburgh, they found a dog bleeding from multiple gunshots. Another dog dead and buried under cinderblocks was found later.
The badly injured dog, named Sampson, was suffering from three bullet wounds. Animal control officers said he was shot in the head, including a bullet that went through his eye. Surgeons ended up removing that eye.
After the police posted photos of the injured pit bull on social media to find the owner, Cowans turned himself in.
“The story that I got was that the dogs had been fighting,” animal control officer Dawn Weichler told CBS Pittsburgh. “So he took the dogs and said that he would take care of it. He came back without the dogs.”
Cowans must also pay $2,000 in restitution, part of which will cover the dog’s medical treatment.
Sampson has had a successful surgery and has been put up for adoption, CBS Pittsburgh reports.
Dog Groomer’s Husband Shoots and Kills 4 Dogs in Wife’s Care
Earlier this week, a dog groomer’s husband was charged with felony of harm to companion animals for shooting and killing four of her client’s dogs, including a therapy pet, at their home in Ohio.
Philip Taylor, 54, has been released from jail after appearing in court on June 3. He was ordered to not have contact with his wife and surrender his firearms, according to 13ABC.
Theresa Taylor and her husband Philip, were dog-sitting four dogs in their Williams County, Ohio home that weekend, according to news outlets. Theresa said when she got home, her husband threatened to kill her, so she left.
“He just kept texting me and telling me that he was killing my dogs and if I wanted to save them I’d have to come back and let him take me,” Theresa said via 13ABC.
Philip then shot and killed four of the dogs in their care—Princess, Topaz, Skylar and Lily. Lily was a therapy dog for one of Theresa’s clients who was injured in a car accident.
“My wife was just… the compassion I felt for my wife was just unbelievable. She was really upset,” Randy Beck, Lily’s owner, told 13ABC.
“She was like bigger than life here. Even though she was like this big she was bigger than life here,” Theresa said of the Beck’s dog, Lily.
Beck said he wishes he knew about the Taylor’s situation before bringing his dog into their home.
“I wish she would have come and said ‘Hey I’m having personal problems, maybe don’t bring the dog in for grooming.’ Had she done that we wouldn’t have brought Lily in and she’d be alive today,” Beck told the news outlet.
Theresa, who owns a brick-and-mortar dog grooming business in Archbold, Ohio, wrote about the incident in a Facebook post: “The dogs at my house have been murdered by my Now EXhusband and I lost 4 of the most precious little soles (sic) in the world.”
Theresa said that it’s difficult for her to cope with the tragedy but she’s back to work at her dog salon trying to move on.
“My world is broken but today I will start a new life. And I am taking all of you with me. If I didn’t get to your message last night. This is your return message. Everything at the salon is normal,” she wrote in a Facebook post on June 3.
Theresa told 13ABC that her and Philip have had problems in the past but never this severe.
The Associated Press and The Epoch Times Reporter Venus Upadhayaya contributed to this report.
