April is Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Month, but that appears to be lost on a Texas man who is charged with felony animal cruelty after he allegedly threw two dogs into a burning fire pit late last week.
Larry Lowery, 28, of Point, is said to have thrown the stray dogs into the blazing pit on a dare by a friend. Lowery and three others were sitting around the fire consuming alcohol.
According to witnesses, one dog perished in the fire, the other one fled with its fur ablaze and has not been located by authorities. In a statement to police, Lowery claimed one of the dogs had bitten him two weeks prior; he was swinging the animal, but he tripped, and it accidentally fell into the fire.
Witnesses, including a 5-year-old girl, say that Lowery bragged about throwing the second dog into the fire.
Faye Norris, grandmother of the girl, approached Lowery after her granddaughter told her what happened. “It was a joke to him, Norris said. “He had been drinking and he thought it was funny.”
“It takes a mentally disturbed individual, my opinion, to do something that cruel,” Norris said.
An online petition calls for Lowery to be prosecuted to the fullest extent possible under the law.
Animal abuse is a felony crime in the state of Texas.
