Two dogs kill six goats; woman ordered to pay restitution, move dogs

By Rosemary K. Otzman
Independent Editor
Shelby Statham, 21, of the 22000 block of Sherwood Road in Sumpter Township, plead guilty Sept. 10 in 34th District Court to one count of harboring a vicious animal and paid $2,568 in restitution after her two dogs killed six goats owned by her neighbor.
Sumpter Police Detective John Toth said the dogs attacked the goats June 10 and July 28.
The owners of the goats were able to track the dogs back to where they came from the second time and found the dogs bloody from the attack. Statham wasn’t home.
Det. Toth said the two dogs are a pit bull mix and a red bone hound dog mix. Some of the six goats killed were babies, Toth said.
In trying to fix the situation, a decision was made by police to seize the dogs, Toth said. Police got a search warrant and took the animals on July 31. The animals were in possession of Sumpter Police from then until the court date. Statham also had to pay $900 worth of Sumpter impound fees.
As part of the plea deal, Statham also was ordered to move the dogs to another location, Toth said.
Originally Statham was charged with two counts of unlicensed dogs, two counts of dogs at large, and two counts of harbouring vicious animals.
Toth said the six goats killed belonged to the neighbor’s grandchildren and were worth up to $600 apiece.