LONGVIEW, Wash. — An Animal Control Officer for the Humane Society of Cowlitz County is recommending that animal cruelty charges be filed against a father and daughter accused of killing two dogs.
“I think it’s definitely a step in the right direction,” said Luke Moore, the dog's owner.
Moore is feeling like there may just be some justice for his dogs, Link and Marley. Moore will tell you the full-bred huskies were like children to him.
“We’d hang out, cook dinner together, play,” he said.
That all ended in early September when the dogs got out of Moore’s Longview home. Authorities say the dogs turned up at a nearby park where they were picked up and later killed.
“It was with a pellet gun,” said Animal Control Officer Tina Schneider. “They were dumped in the slough off Coal Creek that feeds into the Columbia River.”
The dogs’ bodies have not been recovered, but it appears they were killed for mauling a family’s cat months earlier.
“It’s very difficult,” said Schneider. “It’s hard because there was a loss of three animals, not just two, the owner of the cat lost their animal.”
Schneider is recommending that a number of charges, including animal cruelty and theft, be filed against the cat owner and her father. The two are suspected of killing the huskies in what appears to be a case of retribution.
“I just hope the prosecutor takes it and runs with it and does what he’s been elected to do,” said Moore. “Protect this community and prevent crime.”
KGW is not identifying the two suspects because they have not been formally charged with a crime. The case is now in the hands of the county prosecutor.
KGW did make contact with the female suspect in this case. She declined to make a comment.