11-Week-Old Puppy Shot Point Blank In Zephyrhills

ZEPHYRHILLS, FL – An 11-week-old puppy is dead and three Zephyrhills children want to know why someone would intentionally shoot and kill the family pet.

That’s a question the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office would like to answer as well. The sheriff’s office is asking anyone who has information on the crime to call.

Zachary Ray of 40251 Laird Ave., Zephyrhills, said he was shocked to come home from work last week and find the family’s pit bull terrier puppy, Panda, dead in the back yard.

Ray’s wife, Gina Moore, was out of town so they’d hired a babysitter to look after their three children, ages 5, 10 and 11, while she was gone.

The sitter let the puppy out into the yard and then forgot about Panda in the midst of taking care of the two older children when they arrived home from school.

Ray said he came home from work just after 5 p.m. and went into the back yard to check on the dog. He found the little black and white puppy laying still on the ground beneath a palm tree. When he looked closer, he saw blood on the dog.

Pasco Deputy Darren Goodwald knew right away that the puppy had been shot with a pellet or BB gun, and that it was no accident.

“I observed a small hole on the dog’s shoulder that appeared to be consistent with the dog being shot,” he said. “I flipped the dog over and observed an exit wound on the dog’s lower chest.”

Panda had been shot from close range through the heart.

“The entry and exit wound were angled at about a 45-degree angle which would indicate that someone came up close to the dog and shot it point blank,” he said.

Moore just hopes the puppy didn’t suffer.

“I can’t imagine why anyone would do this,” she said. “My youngest child was so upset. He just can’t understand.”

What’s especially baffling is why no one in the neighborhood saw or heard anything, she said.

“There’s always someone outside,” she said. “I can’t believe no one saw anything.”

Goodwald canvassed the neighborhood but all the neighbors he spoke with said they didn’t see anyone walking around with a pellet or BB gun. And Goodwald found no active surveillance cameras in the area.

Anyone with information should call the sheriff’s office at 1-800-706-2488.

Images via Gina Moore