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by Mary Ruth Hammond STAFF WRITER
Two Tooele boys, ages 10 and 11, were involved in pouring gasoline on a neighbor's dog last Saturday and setting the animal on fire, according to police reports. One of the boys later threw the burned dog into a garbage can. Tooele Sgt. Steve Newkirk said the dog belonged to a neigh- bor, who was out of town at the time of the incident. Apparently, the youngsters were upset that the dog kept crawling under a fence and entering the yard where one of the boys lived. "One of the boys told us that he poured gasoline on the dog." Newkirk said. "He said that later he lit a piece of paper on fire and the dog ran toward the paper and caught on fire." Newkirk added that what real- ly happened was that the boy poured gasoline on the dog and then intentionally set the dog on fire. At least one of the boys then threw the dog into a garbage can. |
Later, the mother of one of the boys found the animal.When her son told her what had happened, the mother called police. Dr. Joe Roundy, a Tooele vet- erinarian, made an emergency house call Saturday evening to take care of the animal. "The poor dog suffered burns on about 30 percent of its body," Roundy stated. After treating the dog over the weekend, Roundy released it to its owners Monday morning. "I thought the dog would be more comfotable in its own home and around the people it loved," he said. While there's still no guarantee that the dog will recover, Roundy said as of Thursday morning things look good. The dog's skin is not slough- ing off as much as I though it would," he said. "At first, I wasn't sure the dog would live, but things are looking better today." Sgt.Newkirk said he is not yet sure how much involvement each boy had in burning the dog, but at least one youth will be chared in juvenile court. |