Kent man charged with animal cruelty for shooting dachshund in leg

         In this article, which was written by Steve Hunter is one of those cases where you think to yourself how someone could be so senseless. Steven William Cole, a 49-year old is being charged with first-degree animal cruelty for ostensibly shooting a neighbour’s 7-year old dachshund in the leg with a pellet gun. Cole openly admitted to the deputy that he does indeed own a high-powered pellet rifle which he used to shoot rabbits on his property, but what baffles me is that he used this pellet rifle which I would assume should not be used to kill any type of animal to injure someone else’s animal. I do realize, as a pet owner, having someone’s pets’ feces on my lawn would quite disgusting and indeed irritating to have to clean up constantly but Cole could have approached the situation in a more humane manner.                            

           Furthermore, in the article it was stated that the woman who owns Zeus “looked toward Cole's house and saw him in a front window laughing.” The only thing that goes through my mind is how someone can hypothetically get a “thrill” off of an causing, in this case, a dog a severe amount of pain and just laugh about it? If I were in Cole’s position, which I would NEVER want to be in, the regret and hatred I would feel towards myself would be immense. I personally can’t handle the thought process Cole must have gone through to want to intentionally shoot a dog to show he was angered at his neighbors, I’m just glad to hear this dog is going to recover and even gladder Cole is getting charged for what he did! 

http://www.kentreporter.com/news/151957905.html