Today marks the beginning of the trial of Ray Stanfill of Louisiana who is accused of shooting and killing Gage on March 12th 2008. Gage was the 7 yr. old beloved pitbull owned by Shana and Britt Burke, Stanfill’s neighbors.
Allegedly, Stanfill said Gage jumped the acre fenced-in yard over to his yard and jumped back over to the Burke’s property as he was getting ready to shoot a snake on his property with his shotgun. Fearing Gage was going to jump back over to his yard, Stanfill said he shot Page. Apparently Gage had never jumped the fence prior to this incident.
Hearing a loud noise, Shana called Gage to come into the house but Gage never returned. Instead, Shana found him in her yard with a shot through his neck, collar blown off, blood everywhere. He also was burned from the blast.
According to reports, Shana held him as he took his last breath. Listen to Shana’s own words as she described that moment while talking to a news reporter by clicking this link http://www.youtube.com/v/dKX-7xpey6o&hl=en&fs=1.
Now I know there are people reading this who are saying Gage was a pitbull and Ray had every right to be scared to be bitten because that is what pitbulls do! I have no idea if the killing of Gage has anything to do with the fact that he was a pitbull or not. But I’m going to guess that may be part of the defense .
First, let me say, from what I have been reading, Gage was a well-disciplined, well-mannered, loving dog who loved everyone and had no history of biting anyone. He also was loved by many people. Apparently there were complaints of Gage’s barking and Stanfill was overheard by a brother-in-law of the Burke’s stating he was going to shoot the dog if he doesn’t stop barking.
Was that the reason for this killing?
The wounds to Gage’s neck are consistent with Gage standing still and a shotgun placed against his neck. It is thought that Stanfill was kneeling on his side of the property while placing the shotgun through the linked fence? If this is the case, he needs to be punished to the fullest extent of the law.
Stanfill was cited for animal cruelty and is standing trial for this crime today. I hope a forensics expert (do they have them for animals?) can determine how Gage was killed.
Perhaps no one will never know why Gage was killed. It makes no sense to me to kill a dog that is on his own property. All he had to do was go into his own house and call animal control. I guess it was easier to shoot the dog in the neck. With all the blood I have seen in pictures of Gage after he was shot, I can’t even begin to imagine what it was like when the Zimmerman brothers killed 80 dogs right here in Berks County. Gage didn’t die instantly. Did the 80 dogs who lost their lives die instantly? I pray to God they did and they didn’t have to suffer.
There are always two sides to every story. We’ll see what Stanfill has to say for his defense.
If someone killed my dog on my own property, well, I won’t go there.
To learn more about Gage’s story, visit www.justiceforgage.com.
What would you do if you felt threatened by a neighbor’s dog on your property?