Man kills neighbor’s dog for missing chickens
ELIMSPORT – A Washington Township man has been charged with cruelty to animals for shooting to death a neighbor’s dog that he blamed for attacking his chickens, according to investigators of the Lycoming County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
“Let me tell you why I shot your dog,” 78-year-old Leonard E. Budman told Royce Von Bailey when the two men confronted one another near their properties at Hillside School and Leisure Acres roads about 8 p.m. July 8.
“Your dog was here at 5 a.m. after my chickens,” Budman, of 633 Hillside School Road, told Bailey, according to an affidavit filed by humane Officer Lawrence D. Woltz.
Bailey confronted Budman after he saw his dead Siberian husky in the bed of Budman’s pickup truck, Woltz said. Bailey had been out looking for the dog after hearing a shot, Woltz said. It is believed the dog was shot in a field near the men’s two properties, but Woltz did not say in court papers where.
Bailey took possession of the dog, which later was examined by a local veterinarian, Woltz said.
Budman told investigators that he “shot the husky, and that he was missing a number of chickens and eggs. Budman stated he did not actually see a dog kill any chickens, and he could not produce any dead chickens,” Woltz said.
Budman has been sent a summons to appear before District Judge C. Roger McRae.