‘Dog case’ puppy recovering

Published 3:00 am Wednesday, August 18, 2010

The dog is gone no more.

The central character in a cruelty to animals case in Murray County — a dog that was allegedly thrown out a truck window for killing a chicken, and then appeared to vanish — has been found, authorities said on Tuesday.

“The person who saw the dog ‘released’ could describe it and was on the lookout for it,” said Pauline Davis, director of Murray County Animal Control. “That person called us the day after the dog came to her house. It is a little brindle pit bull mix.”

Davis said the person did not want to be identified, but lives near where she reported to the sheriff’s office on Aug. 2 that a dog had been thrown out of a moving pickup truck. That truck is owned by Matthew Ray Bramblett of Old Federal Road North, who later that day was stopped by a deputy and admitted he had thrown the dog out, according to a sheriff’s office incident report.

Bramblett was charged with one count of cruelty to animals, but several days later disputed he had thrown the dog out the window, claiming instead he had “set the dog out” from his truck after he discovered it had killed one of his chickens.

“(Bramblett) said the dog weighed between 30 and 40 pounds and he couldn’t have thrown it out the window,” Davis said. “It’s actually a puppy — I judge it to be around 14 weeks old — and it weighs 20 pounds. The puppy did have minor scrapes, but they’re healing up.”

Davis said her office received the call that the pup had been found around six to seven days after the incident occurred.

“The (Murray County) Humane Society has him now, and they are housing him,” she said. “The puppy will eventually go up for adoption.”

Angie Micik of the Humane Society said she named the playful puppy “Ernie” when she took him from animal control.

“He looks like an Ernie,” she replied when asked about the moniker. “He’s a goofball. He wasn’t in terrible shape when he got here, just a couple of scrapes. He’ll make someone a good pet when he’s ready for adoption.”

Micik said her organization “works very closely” with animal control.

“If we have room and (Davis) has a need, we’ll take them,” she said of the “no-kill” shelter. “The animals here — I have over 25 dogs and about 20 cats — will get a home, will be taken by another rescue group or they’ll stay here.”

She said up to 20 dogs are available now for adoption, as are 80 percent of the cats. The shelter also takes donations to help with the animals’ care and feeding. Micik can be reached at the humane society number, (706) 695-2642.

Bramblett is out of jail on a $5,000 Magistrate Court bond. He was charged in 2005 with aggravated assault, simple battery and two counts of terroristic threats and acts. A Superior Court clerk said that case was discharged when Bramblett was given first offender status.

An appearance in Superior Court on the cruelty charge has not been set, the clerk said.

Animal code violations

Pauline Davis, director of Murray County Animal Control, points to two ordinances in the county code that are applicable to the care of animals.

• Holding animal without consent of owner: No person shall, without the knowledge or consent of the owner, hold or retain possession of any animal which he does not own for more than 72 hours without first reporting its possession to animal control.

“It also means that if a dog comes upon your property and you feed it and it stays, you become legally responsible to feed it and get its rabies shot,” Davis said. “If they don’t want the dog, we should be called within 72 hours.”

• Cruelty: It shall be unlawful to abandon any animal or fail to provide it with sufficient … nutritious food and water (and) proper air, shelter space and protection from the weather. No person shall kill, beat, cruelly treat, torment or otherwise abuse an animal or improperly use chains or restraints less than 12 feet in length.

The number for Animal Control is (706) 695-8003.