RIVIERA BEACH, Fla. — Da’stini and Clayton Brown were heartbroken once they received a phone call telling the married couple about their dog being paralyzed.
Officials say Kiba, their Siberian husky, was shot with a pellet gun after running away from their Rivera Beach home. On Sept. 23, a gray bully breed was found on 900 block of Southwest Third Street in Belle Glade with a spinal cord injury due to a pellet gunshot, Palm Beach County Animal Care and Control said.
Both dogs are now with the shelter's rescue partners receiving medical care: Kiba at Tri-County Animal Rescue and the other dog at Big Dog Ranch.
“Who does that to a dog?” Da’stini Brown asked. “No dog deserves that. No animal deserves that.”
Brown said Kiba was one of four dogs the couple had in their home, who they treat like their kids. Clayton said he’s been distraught about giving the dog up because they can’t afford the animal’s medical care.
“That just blew me over the top,” he said. “I really couldn’t manage. I had to leave work.”
The incident happened on Monday at around 6 p.m. The department said the gray husky was seen limping and then later found hiding in a bush near 15th Street in Riviera Beach.
Officers rescued the dog. The department said a checkup revealed that Kiba's hind limbs were paralyzed as result of the gunshot and X-rays later confirmed the presence of a pellet.
Capt. Damon Nunn, who is the field operations manager for Palm Beach County Animal Control, said they don’t have many leads on the case. He said it needs people to help or cases are hard to solve because animals can’t speak.
“We need the community’s help to solve cases like this,” Nunn said. “Because if nobody calls us, we don’t have any video, we don’t have many leads, it leads to an investigation that remains open and not solved.”
He said this also applied to a different case in Belle Grade, which is not related.
An X-Ray, which WPTV obtained, shows the pellet near the dog’s spine.
Dr. Tara Sermer, who is a veterinarian and medical director at Big Dog Ranch Rescue, said it often finds pellets because they can only get detected during an X-Ray. She said the pellets are dangerous because they cause trauma upon entry, hit vital organs and migrate through tissues.
“A pellet that’s benign on day one may not be benign on day 360,” Sermer said. “It may of migrated into the Lver or into a vital organ.”
She also said led pellets could cause led toxicity as well.
Anyone with information about the person(s) responsible for these acts is urged to call police.
Information can be reported anonymously to Crime Stoppers at 800-458-8477 or by visiting the website.
