Dog Skinned Alive

Just passing this on, feel free to repost and forward. I am sorry to say this is not an urban legend. A Benton local came home to find her beloved pet had been skinned alive. Sadly the poor animal had to be euthanized. The reward for info leading to the perpetrators is now up to $6,000.  Here are links to the original story from KTHV:

Benton Woman Finds Dog Skinned Alive

“I love animals, loved animals all my life," says dog owner Dee Green. In fact, Green has a hard time turning away stray dogs that roam her Benton neighborhood. Over the years, she's collected more than eight of them. She says they come here because, “They know that they'll be loved." But Green says it's possible someone may have retaliated because she has so many. “It's just like they skinned a deer. That's what he said, like she had been skinned like a deer. So you can imagine hanging somewhere up on a tree,” explains Green. “You know I don't know how they do deer but you know I can imagine her hanging there and they're just stripping all her skin off of her." Green had just arrived home from work last week when she heard Missy barking. She found her under the carport with her skin hanging off. "I will never forget that as long as I live. That's something that nobody needs to go through. It's terrible,” she explains. Green rushed Missy to the Benton Veterinary Hospital and Dr. Howard Foggo. Green says she was praying it was just a dog fight, but reality set in when the doctor said Missy had been skinned alive. Dr. Foggo says, "It was basically cut from here to here all the way around and you can't just sit there with a knife without someone restraining the animal." Dr. Foggo calls it by far the worst animal cruelty case he has ever seen. He had to euthanize Missy. "It's wasn't the pain that I am going through. It's the pain that I can feel that she went through that she doesn't deserve," says Green. So for now, she's is busy keeping an eye on her other beloved pets, so tragedy doesn't strike again. "Somebody like that needs to be caught and they need to be prosecuted," says Green. The Saline County Sherriff’s Department has no suspects. If you have any information you're asked to call them at 501-303-5608. Green is offering a $1500 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction.

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UPDATE

We first showed you last week the pictures, on the right, of 7-year-old Missy, skinned alive in Benton. In the days that followed, we received almost 50 e-mails from all over the country. On the Topix website, there's a blog with more than 500 messages from across the world. One is from Elizabeth Gunn of Little Rock. “We are way behind, and I think that people are finally realizing that and maybe getting motivated to get up and do something,” she says. Each message is filled with disgust over the heinous crime, and each one demands police find whoever is responsible and arrest them. Saline County Sheriff Phil Mask says, "It behooves me that this is only a misdemeanor crime. This needs to be a felony charge for what that did to this poor dog." Sheri J. from Minneapolis says, "We are all feeling so helpless here, wringing our hands, feeling horrible at what has happened." Janelle in Chicago writes, "For the sake of all animals. No animal/pet needs to ever go through this kind of torture. I speak for those who do not have a voice!!" Dee Green owned Missy, but the entire Shaw Community loved her. Victor Smith says he fed Missy when she came around. "Anybody that would do that to an animal could just as easily do it to a kid because they don't of a heart of any kind," explains Smith. Friday night, Smith hung up flyers around Saline County asking for any information. “Maybe someone will recognize her and they might even turn them in you know? That's what we're hoping for," he says. The reward started out at $1,500, but in just seven days, it's jumped to nearly $5,000. The goal is to reach $8,000 by this weekend. Concerned animal lovers say it's the least they can do for the dog the vet couldn't save because of the torture she endured. There are no suspects. State police have been called into investigate. You can donate to the Missy's Fund at any Bank of America. If you have information on this crime, you're asked to contact the Saline County Sherriff’s Department at 501-303-5608. The crime is punishable with a $1,000 fine and up to a year in jail.

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REWARD INCREASED

In a THV update, the reward for catching the person who skinned a dog alive in Saline County is up to $6,000. The dog’s name is Missy. We first told you three weeks ago about the veterinarian who had to euthanize her. Over the weekend, someone dropped $2,000 off at Bank of America for the reward fund, but they didn't leave a name. You can mail anonymous tips to Missy’s law, P.O. Box 7814, Little Rock, AR 72217. If you have information on this crime, you're asked to contact the Saline County Sherriff’s Department at 501-303-5608.

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