A former Navy Seal, a dog and four punks. The sad outcome.

A treasured pet is killed "for fun", and a former Navy Seal is devastated. This is a true story from earlier this month. It appears that four punks can drive by your house and shoot your pets; and if they kill them, they can get a maximum of only 2 years in prison. This is how it is in Texas, but I am sure the punishment isn’t any harsher most other places.

A former Navy Seal sniper, Marcus Luttrell, was the only survivor of a fight with the Tali ban in Afghanistan in 2005. He was given a dog upon his return home to help him cope with the post traumatic stress he was dealing with. The dog, DASY, was named for each of his fallen team members lost in the battle he barely survived. One letter of her name represented each buddy. The dog was like a daughter to him. He loved her that much.

One night in early April, four worthless punks decided to ride around the area and shoot dogs “for fun”. Dasy, one of their targets, tried to get away; the blood trail shows the struggle.

Hearing the gunshot, Mr. Luttrell, rushed out-grabbing his gun on the way. After climbing under a fence and skirting a ditch, the former Seal raised his 9mm pistol and had one of the offenders…right there. He didn’t shoot. WOW. They took off. He followed, chasing them for 3 counties, while dialing 911 to tell them they had better get some officers on the scene. He, and the cops, did catch up with these guys. I applaud his self-control, I am quite sure many of us couldn’t have done that. They were taken into custody and charged with animal cruelty. They will get, maybe, 6 months. Nothing basically, but a useless slap on the wrist. It could bring a maximum of two years. There are petitions on line to sign to make sure they get the maximum. Problem is, I just don’t think the maximum is harsh enough. There is NO defense for this type of behavior.

I don’t want to hear from people that say that by being sentenced, and serving time in prison, this will ruin these young thugs’ lives. (not really young...18-24) Who cares?! This is bigger than knowing the difference between right and wrong. Hitting mailboxes in rural areas with baseball bats is right and wrong behavior. This horrific behavior is far beyond not knowing or caring; it is knowing what the difference is between good and evil. I personally could throw away the key and not give it a second thought.

Again, we need to strengthen these laws! How can we tolerate cruelty, to anyone or any animal, as not being worthy of a strict sentencing law? I’m sure they will have an attorney that will try, and probably succeed, in dealing this charge down. Maybe next time they will think it is “fun” to shoot through car windows on the interstate, or maybe it will be the homeless that will be the target. Or any other easy target. Send them to prison. They will have a lot of fun there.

Luttrell has left this Texas area home for now. These creeps took one life and severely damaged yet another. When are we going to say enough?

Thanks for reading.