It took three hours in surgery and a lot of tender loving care, but Lucy, a six-month-old black labrador, is on her way back to good health after someone shot her.
Lucy may have survived, but the incident isn’t sitting well with her owners Michelle and Buck Waller of Independence Township.
“We’re freaked out,” Michelle said. “We have three kids.”
The kids — Caylin, 9, Madison, 11 and Jordan 14 — heard Lucy crying as they were out jumping on the trampoline in the yard of their Allen Road home a little after 7 p.m. on Sept. 14.
Lucy wouldn’t come when they called for her. Michelle and the kids found her hiding, yelping in pain, near the Waller’s pond.
Michelle used to be a veterinary technician, so she knew to check the dog’s gums to see if it was bleeding internally. Lucy was.
At the veterinary clinic, Lucy was shaved, revealing the gunshot’s entrance and exit wounds. The bullet, confirmed at the vet it was a .22 caliber, had sliced through Lucy’s intestines, Michelle said.
“It was so weird such a little thing could do so much damage,” she noted.
Subsequently, the Wallers called the police to file a report.
“I’m kind of disappointed all the police could do is take a police report. Isn’t it against the law to shoot someone’s dog?” Michelle said. (According to the Michigan Humane Society, a person can be charged with a felony for killing someone’s owned animal.
Lt. Dale LaBair of the Oakland County Sheriff’s Department in Independence Township explained the department’s predicament,
“We have no bullet. We can’t even ascertain it was shot with a traditional firearm,” he said. “ We have had no other reports of this occurring. That particular area is quite rural. We don’t have the manpower to go door-to-door. It’s unlikely we’ll find out who did this. The best thing (Michelle) is doing is alerting the media and we’ll see if people pick up on this. The use of firearms is always dangerous. It could’ve well been someone’s kid.”
A copy of the police report was sent to Oakland County Animal Control for their information.
Michelle admits Lucy often travels away from the home to play with neighbor’s dogs. (Lucy in fact came from a neighbor’s litter.)
“If someone was annoyed, they could have called, she’s got tags. Or call Animal Control,” Michelle said.
She wonders who would do such a thing. “Was it a kid? Was it on purpose? The sad thing is, it has to be one of our neighbors.”
About four years ago, a dog the Wallers had, who Michelle admits was a wanderer, wandered away. Or, so the Wallers assumed. “We’re thinking she got shot, too.”
The Wallers, who have lived in their Allen Road home for eight years, haven’t had any real problems with crime in their area, besides the occasional mailbox bashing.
“This gives us a real sense of unease,” Michelle said. “I can see if it was a pellet or BB, but it was a real gun. Is this person (the shooter) starting out on dogs and going to graduate to bigger things someday? With all the wackos out there nowadays, you just don’t know.”
For other animal cruelty laws in Michigan visit www.animal-law.org/statutes/michigan.htm.)