Reader relates story of animal abuse

We heard a wailing noise. Our dogs barked wildly. We heard it again.

My husband peered over our block wall and saw something curled up against a retaining wall. The boyfriend of the neighbor's daughter was taking pitching practice at the family's dog with a lemon.

A missed pitch. The lemon exploded against the retaining wall. He heaved another lemon overhand, hard- direct hit. The dog yelped in pain.

The dog escaped to the far side of the house; another wail. Hit number four.

The dog came running toward us. The abuser was confronted. We called the police.

We told the officer the story and he contacted the Humane Society. But after observing the dog and inspecting the backyard, he determined there was no evidence and cancelled the request. He didn't even fill out a police report. Of course, the perpetrator denied everything.

That night, we spoke with our other next-door neighbors. They said this guy had hit their dog with his car. Maybe it was an accident, but we remembered a week earlier when our daughter heard an animal in distress late at night. Something wasn't right.

On Saturday we called Simi Valley police and spoke with Lt. David Livingstone, who called the Humane Society and ordered an investigation.

The Humane Society made an appointment with our neighbor on Wednesday, five days after the attack. The investigator conducted an extensive examination and could detect no injuries.

She did share that our neighbor admitted that the dog didn't like this guy much and oftentimes ran away from him.

In case you're wondering if our neighbor kicked this guy out of her house, sorry to disappoint you, no such luck.

We didn't think reporting animal abuse would be so difficult. But we would like to share what we've learned.

Animal abuse cannot be easily spotted by an untrained individual, but a trained professional can make such a determination. The sooner the animal is inspected, the better. The SVPD is not trained in detecting animal abuse.

The bigger issue: Animal abusers are almost certain to engage in domestic violence. The correlation is astounding.

Training our officers is our first line of defense against these perpetrators. The sooner they're deterred, the better.

Furthermore, there are only two trained investigators for Ventura County. We need more.

We wanted justice for the dog, and this guy (put) in jail. We got neither.
Margie Williams
Simi Valley