Information sought on assault against a child's pet dog

To the Editor:

This letter is directed to the person or persons who were so kind as to take our Chinese Pug from his own yard on June 1. You should be very proud of yourself for stealing, abusing and attempting to murder a puppy from a child who loves and adores him, and for what pleasure you did so I do not know but rest assured I will find out who you are.

By stealing our pet you have committed a felony due to his value alone then adding to it the cost of his surgery, animal cruelty and abuse. Shall we throw in trespassing as well.

Our Pug was a gift to my oldest son who chose to have him remain with his little brother as they had developed a bond while my oldest was away at college, and my oldest son knew the love and faithfulness that grew between his brother and pet. My little boy has epilepsy and his puppy along with his big dog are his world. Without them he would be lost. Our pets help to make my little boy happier and they help as well with his medical situation in keeping his seizures under control, and thanks to you upsetting him you have added to his condition.

You, kind person, deserve a pat on the back for making my little boy's heart break and worry if his puppy was going to live or die. Did you take Kano because you hold a personal vendetta against myself or a member of my family, or did you do so thinking that because you saw for yourself he is a purebred pug and thought you would make a few hundred dollars by studding him out? I assume that if you did so for the latter that when you noticed he had been neutered you decided not to wish to keep him. You obviously had been watching our home and learning our comings and goings to be brave enough to sneak in and steal him while we were gone.

You should be standing at least ten feet tall by now and congratulating yourself for a job you thought you completed, knowing that you hurt something smaller than you. After all a person of your intelligence and nature could not possibly be smart enough to pick on someone or something of your own size, as your opponent would outwit and outsmart you due to his/her intelligence and your complete ignorance.

Be so very proud of yourself for taking a poor defenseless animal and treating him the way you did. Our puppy is a very large part of our family and you have made him in fear of others and my little boy afraid that you will return and finish the job you set out to do. You have cost me money that I cannot spare being a single parent and raising my son on a very small income without any outside support for his upbringing. My little boy has been working hard and saving his money to buy something for himself that he has wanted for a long time. When this act of cruelty happened to his puppy he offered his money to help pay the cost of surgery to try to make his puppy better, this being an unselfish thing for him to do and willing to go without so that his puppy would be fixed and get better.

I ask you to please keep my little boy and our puppy in your prayers. If there is anyone who was in the area of Vicks Drive, where we reside, and Wards Road, where our puppy was supposed to have been thrown from a vehicle, that may have seen what happened to our puppy and the person or persons who did this, we would be truly grateful to you if you would please report what you know to the sheriff's office, and help to make this person pay for what has been done to our pet.

Michele Benefield-Kessel