HANDS OFF THE ANIMALS

In Defense Of Animals Offers $2,500 Reward In California Dog Torture and Killing Friday, November 2, 2012

A basset hound named Buddy was doused with lighter fluid and set on fire

Ventura County, Calif. (November 2, 2012) – In Defense of Animals (IDA), an international animal protection organization based in San Rafael, California, has added $2,500 to a reward fund for information leading to the arrest and conviction of whomever set on fire and killed a basset hound named Buddy.

A neighbor reported a small fire around 3:20 a.m. on Saturday, October 27. When fire crews arrived they found Buddy, a 3 year old basset hound, in flames. Someone had doused him with lighter fluid and set him on fire. “There have been cases of animal cruelty, but I’ve never heard of someone pouring fluid on an animal and lighting it on fire,”
Detective Eric Buschow of the Venture County Sheriff’s Department told the Ventura County Star Newspaper. He added, “It’s a horrible, horrible crime.”

“The cold-bloodedness of this horrific crime indicates what a danger this person is to all of us,” said Eric Phelps, Emergency Response Unit Coordinator for IDA. “Someone knows who did this, and he or she will be serving the entire community by stepping forward.” Phelps added that studies have repeatedly shown, and the FBI and other law enforcement agencies agree, that a person who commits cruelty to animals very often moves on to commit acts of violence against people, especially when the cruelty to animals goes unpunished.

IDA urges anyone with information about this brutal attack to contact Ventura County Crime Stoppers at 800-222-8477 or Detective Eric Buschow at 805-383-8740. To contribute to the reward fund, please call IDA at (415) 448-0048, ext. 218.

Contact: Eric Phelps, eric@idausa.org, 503-754-0977