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February 28, 2007

S. Kingstown man gets year in jail for shooting dog

SOUTH KINGSTOWN — Blaze Jules Thomas Ferguson, the 9-year-old Rottweiler shot in the head last fall, has a new home. The dog's former owner, meanwhile, was sentenced to a year in prison for shooting his pet after appearing today in Washington County Superior Court.

Judge Stephen P. Nugent also sentenced Donald Ferguson, 42, of 590 Rose Hill Rd., to one-year probation and a one-year suspended sentence.

Last Sept. 20, a Verizon worker heard a gunshot around noon and saw the Rottweiler walk out of the woods and toward the home at 590 Rose Hill Rd. A man followed the dog, grabbed it by the neck and led it back to the woods, reports show.

Officers found a trail of blood leading from the house to a 4-foot-deep hole in the woods. Blaze was sitting inside, with blood coming from the mouth. Ferguson was crouched at the edge of the hole with a 9-mm Ruger handgun, police records show.

At the time, Ferguson explained that he was trying to kill the dog because it had bad hips and kidney and bladder problems, police said. Reports quoted him saying, “I was trying to put her down; she’s sick.”

South County Veterinary Hospital determined that the dog had Lyme disease, but did not suffer from kidney problems or bad hips, court records show.

-- Journal staff writer Katie Mulvaney

Posted by Andrea Panciera  at 5:48 PM | Permalink

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