MOUNT VERNON, Ark. – A Mount Vernon man is offering a $4,000 reward for anyone with information as to who fatally shot his dog on Sunday.
Josh Brown said he was returning from Mississippi on Sunday and his elderly father had let out his three dogs to chase rabbits in the yard, “not thinking it was turkey season.”
“It wasn’t long after that he came walking up on the porch here and his face covered in blood,” Brown said.
Brown said, judging by the amount of blood on his dog Draco’s face, a beagle, that he had to wipe off with a hot rag and the “little pellet holes” left on his skin, he believes the fatal injuries came from a shotgun.
“It was definitely a turkey load,” Brown said. “But he was just doing what I trained him to do, I’m an avid rabbit hunter, I like the sport.”
Brown said he trained Draco to hunt rabbits ever since he was three months old.
“It was wrong to have him out there this time of year, I get that,” Brown said. “But we have names on the collars, we have phone numbers on our collars, every dog man does all you have to do is call us.”
Brown said he believes he knows who shot and killed his dog and said there are landowners in the area who let people onto their land to hunt annually.
“I know every truck that comes down this road, I know every hunter who hunts this road,” Brown said. “It’s weird that every year there’s a certain person that comes here and it seems like there’s always a problem.”
Brown said he worried about Draco suffering long from the aftermath of the fatal shot, and possibly having to put him down, but said the dog died on its own.
“When something like this happens, you’re outraged, you’re mad, you’re big mad,” Brown said.
Brown said during turkey-hunting and deer-hunting seasons, it’s practice to not let a dog out for fear a similar incident could occur.
Brown is asking for the community’s help to confirm the name of the person responsible for shooting and killing his dog.
“I hope he sees this, and I hope he doesn’t do it again,” Brown said. “I hope it help someone else not do it either.”
Brown said he spoke with an Arkansas Game & Fish warden but is not pressing charges or pursuing a legal avenue at this time.
According to the state, anyone who intentionally kills or injures an animal owned by another person without their consent could face up to a year in jail and a $1000 fine.