Deputy sheriff from Apache County, Arizona, shoots dogs during animal control

The Apache County Sheriff’s Office, which has about 65,000 people, claims the deputy did nothing wrong that day in September. Chief Deputy Roscoe Herrera said because there is no animal control service in the county, deputies have the freedom to handle animal problems as they see fit. The deputy, Jarrod Toadecheenie, declined to comment.

But the incident in Adamana, Arizona – an unincorporated community about 100 miles east of Flagstaff – has outraged local animal rights activists. They say shooting the dogs was the wrong solution and the area urgently needs to address animal hoarding and abandonment. Some residents have created Facebook groups to find homes for abandoned dogs and expose people who illegally hoard animals.

“The Apache County Sheriff’s Office is doing nothing to solve the problem,” said Teresa Schumann, founder of the nonprofit Northern Arizona Animal Search and Rescue. “Animals are dying all over the county.”

Molly Ottman, editor-in-chief of the Mountain Daily Star, received for the first time the body camera footage of the incident and shared it with the Washington Post.

The dogs that were shot belonged to a divorced couple who had left the property, Toadecheenie wrote in the incident report. He wrote that he visited the house several times over three weeks after neighbors called and complained over the canines.

On his first visit, he counted ten dogs, “all of which appeared to be in good health.” A few days later, the MP wrote, he responded to a call that the dogs had chased a neighbor’s donkey.

Toadecheenie contacted Schumann, who said she was having trouble finding new owners for the dogs when the deputy called and said he would take care of it. Schumann said she told him the dogs might have to be euthanized if they were feral.

On September 22, Schumann informed Toadecheenie that she had not found new homes for the dogs. After telling his supervisor that he planned to shoot the dogs, the deputy bought dog food and a tray and fetched water from a fire station.

He then went to the couple’s property, rounded up the dogs, brought them food and water, put headphones on and began shooting at the dogs, body camera footage shows. Toadecheenie shot one dog two more times as it continued to run.

Two dogs ran away unharmed and hid under a shed. Schumann later took them to a local animal shelter. One died of parvovirus shortly after arrival and the other was adopted, said Brandon Smigiel, a supervisor at Holbrook Animal Care and Control.

In the incident report, Toadecheenie recommended that the couple The dogs are believed to have been abandoned and are facing charges of animal cruelty. No charges have been filed as of Friday, according to county records.

Herrera, the deputy sheriff, acknowledged that the situation had caused “distress” in the community.

“This tragic decision was made under extremely difficult circumstances due to a combination of limited resources, the willful neglect and abandonment of the dogs by their original owners, and the significant time spent seeking outside help,” he said in a statement to the Post.

In a separate statement to KPNX 12 News on June 6, the sheriff’s office appeared to blame a lack of funding.

“Apache County does not have an animal care and control department. In the unincorporated areas, the responsibility rests with the deputies and the actions taken vary and are reviewed on a case-by-case basis. We do not have the infrastructure or budget to support such a department.”

Schumann, who runs the nonprofit rescue organization, said she never thought the deputy would shoot the animals.

“It makes me angry when the sheriff’s office says they don’t have the resources” You have to deal with animal situations differently, she said. “There are a lot of people who are trying to help.”

The Arizona Humane Society called the situation “completely avoidable” and regretted that the sheriff’s office did not ask them to do so. for help.

“This horrific incident lacked compassion and judgment,” Jennifer Armbruster, a spokeswoman for the animal welfare group, said in a statement. “And what is clear is that establishing an animal care and control service in Apache County is an absolute necessity to prevent something like this from happening in the future.”

Animal hoarding has reached “epidemic proportions” in Arizona and is creating dangerous situations, said Terri Hoffman, founder of Animal Rights Champions of Arizona. Last summer, a 2-year-old girl from Apache County was mauled to death by three mixed-breed pit bulls. Still, Hoffman said she wants the deputy to be held accountable and that killing abandoned dogs is not an appropriate solution to dog hoarding.

“I’ve been in homes with over 53 dogs,” Hoffman said. “Some people also keep horses and goats here. I’ve seen dogs with open wounds and severe infections. Animals are dying.”