TRUMANN, Ark. — A reward is being offered to help find a suspect after a female dog, possibly 4 or 5 years old, was found shot at least three times, including once through her left eye.
The dog, named Kalita by volunteers, was found in Trumann, Arkansas, and died after emergency surgery Wednesday.
“I couldn’t get my door opened because I usually sit out here and drink my coffee, but I seen there was a dog up on my porch,” said Ricky Mortin, who found Kalita. “Never thought much about it. I thought it was a stray.”
As it turned out, the dog, which got up after and walked behind nearby bushes, had been shot at least three times.
“I didn’t know exactly what was wrong, but to me it looked like she was shot through the eye,” Mortin said.
Candice York, a volunteer with Arkansas Pet Savers, lives in Trumann and was contacted by Trumann Animal Control to see if her rescue could help.
York said the dog, while badly injured, showed no signs of aggression.
“She had three bullets in her, and she still loved people,” York said. “She did not once growl at us. She did not once growl at the animal control officer. She was a happy dog.”
York took the dog to a veterinary clinic in Harrisburg, Arkansas, where emergency surgery was performed to remove her left eye, which was destroyed by a bullet. But Kalita didn’t recover from the procedure.
“She did make it through surgery, and they were starting to close her up, and her heart stopped, and they weren’t able to get her back,” York said.
York believed the dog, which appeared to have been living outside, had too many other medical issues to survive the strain of surgery.
“She had a skin infection, she had multiple different types of intestinal worms, and she was very heart-worm positive,” York said.
Trumann Animal Control and Arkansas Pet Savers are offering a reward to help find who shot Kalita. York hopes the tip comes soon.
“We need to find the person, for her sake,” she said.
Anyone with information about who may have shot Kalita should call the Trumann Police at 870-483-6423.
