Animal Shelter to File Charges in Dog-Kicker Case

A dog that escaped from a hard life with his alleged abuser will soon be avenged for a ferocious kick that sent the pup flying through the air, all witnessed by a Collingswood police officer.

Without knowing his real name or how to contact his owner—a cell phone number from earlier in the month has since been disconnected—the staff at the Almost Home Animal Shelter decided to call the little dog, "Puma."

They settled on the name, director Nancy Welsh said, "because they said he was being hit with a sneaker."

"That's as close as we got," Welsh said.

"Puma" is an approximately 4-year-old beagle-dachshund mix. Weighing in at about 15-18 pounds, he is smaller than he appears in the photograph above, Welsh said.

It takes little to imagine the force of the kick .

In addition to the animal abuse charges, Carney was hit with aggravated assault and resisting arrest—and it was those extra citations that threw a wrinkle in the case for "Puma," Welsh said.

"We're contracted with Collingswood to do animal cruelty investigations," she said. "We usually write the charges and send it to municipal court."

But in this case, Welsh said, Collingswood police punched Carney's ticket to the county prosecutor's office themselves.

That meant that Almost Home had to wait to see the disposition of the state before they could claim custody of "Puma" as well as another dog reportedly living in Carney's household.

"The only thing I [could] do [was] put him in a foster home with the understanding that he may go back to his owner depending on the ruling," she said.

Fortunately for "Puma," Carney's case was downgraded to municipal court on May 13, said Camden County Prosecutor's Office spokesman Jason Laughlin. 

"We determined we weren't going to pursue a felony offense," he told Patch Wednesday. 

It's good news for the little dog, Welsh said, and it's good news for the other dog in the household, too.

"We will be filing the cruelty charges tomorrow in Collingswood Municipal court for the cruelty offense and for custody of 'Puma' and the other dog, if they have it," she told Patch in an e-mail. 

If Almost Home succeeds, somebody's going to be getting a heck of a pet in "Puma," Welsh said.

"He's adorable," she said. "He's the sweetest little dog. Why anybody would think to hit this dog with a shoe, I don't know."

Want to help volunteer with the Almost Home Animal Shelter? Contact Welsh at 856-663-3058.