The shooting of a beloved pet has spawned a Facebook group that is focusing its outrage at the man who pulled the trigger, Newcastle farmer Lee Straw.
As of 8 a.m. Nov 20, the “Justice for Bentley” group has 1007 members. The “open” group, viewable by anyone logged into Facebook was started by Casey Sullivan. Sullivan employs Nathan Brewer, the man who owned Bentley, a year and a half year old black Labrador retriever.
Comments on the group’s Facebook page excoriate Straw for fatally shooting the dog Nov. 14, using varying degrees of language and tone.
“He needs to be prosecuted,” said one poster about the veteran farmer. “Someone ought to go to his farm and shoot one of his animals. The problem is that a person like him, won’t call him a man, probably doesn’t really care about his animals.”
Said another poster, in part, “iit’s (sic) a pity that Lee did not put down his gun, give Bentley a pat and Bentley would have run home having made one more friend.”
“This makes me sick, to do this to any animal,” said another. “The man should go to jail.”
Others suggest boycotting or picketing Straw’s business, Straw’s Farm, located on Brick Hill Road in Newcastle.
According to Straw, a neighbor informed him a black dog was running down his sheep.
Going to the pasture he leases from Ann Yarmi, Straw said he saw a large, black dog biting, barking, cornering and then cutting into his flock; scattering his 48 sheep.
Straw said his neighbors had been trying to get the dog away from the sheep for some time, trying to drive it back over an electrified fence over which the dog had jumped to get at the sheep.
Straw asked a neighbor defending the sheep, if he had a gun. “I will not be bashful in saying I wanted to drop the dog in its tracks with one shot,” he said.
As the neighbor left to retrieve a gun, Straw called 911 and told the dispatcher his situation and announced his intention to shoot the dog.
According to Straw, gun in hand, he took his time, trying once again to get the dog to jump over the electrified fence and away from his sheep. When unsuccessful, he shot at it, and because it moved suddenly, the dog was initially wounded. “As soon as I could get in another round, I shot and finished the dog,” he said.
Doe arrived at the scene minutes after the shooting. Doe took witness statements and sought to have a talk with Brewer, away from the scene, Straw said.
“I wanted the dog to jump the fence and get away from my sheep,” Straw said. “If it had done that I was going to follow it to the owners. The dog was just doing what dogs do – it is up to the owners to control it.
“I didn’t wound it and let it die,” he said. “I dispatched the dog as quickly and humanely as possible. It suffered only minutes compared to what my sheep suffered. At this point, we don’t know the severity of the damage that is yet to occur.”
According to Straw, his consulting veterinarian warned of a consequence to his ewes after such an incident. “Chances are we will have some abortions out of it; and maybe they will recycle or absorb,” Straw said.
If some ewes abort, approximately a month later they can be bred again; however, if a fetus is absorbed rather than aborts, the ewe will not have a breeding cycle, which would be a steep financial loss for Straw.
At $350 a head, the 48 pastured sheep are valued at nearly $16,000 and all were bred in October, Straw said. Straw said he counts on a 150 percent lambing crop (one ewe having either twins or triplets), and he’ll just have to wait to see how many will abort.
Based on her personal knowledge of Bentley, Sullivan said Straw’s assertion the dog was attacking his sheep doesn’t jibe with what she knows of the dog’s temperament.
“He has been around my cats; he was afraid of my cats,” Sullivan said. “He has been on job sites before with other dogs; he is afraid of other dogs, so I thought it was odd he would go up and attack a sheep.”
According to Sullivan, Bentley got away from a mutual friend who was checking on him while Brewer and Sullivan were at work.
Brewer and Sullivan, who owns Organic Innovations Landscaping, were at Skillins’ Greenhouse in Brunswick around 9 a.m., when they received a phone call informing them Bentley had been shot.
By the time, the pair reached the scene, Newcastle Animal Control Officer Mark Doe had Bentley in a bag in Doe’s vehicle. After being allowed to take the dog to his home for burial, Brewer and Sullivan discovered a gaping wound in Bentley’s hind quarters.
A graphic picture of the wound is posted on the group’s Facebook page. “When we saw the dog and the wound on him, we all gasped and were floored,” Sullivan said. “We took Bentley out of the bag and I immediately called Mark Doe.”
Doe declined to return to the scene, Sullivan said. If she had it to do over again she would have immediately taken the dog to a vet for an autopsy to determine exactly how the dog died.
Sullivan said Brewer has been informed there are no plans to charge Straw with killing the dog but Brewer may be charged with allowing a dog to run loose.
Citing his ongoing investigation, Doe declined to comment on the specifics of the case. Doe said he expects to have his report completed and submitted to the District Attorney early next week. He confirmed no charges have been filed as of press time.
After four days of disturbed sleep and raw emotions, Sullivan started the Facebook group at 4:43 p.m. Nov. 18.
“Knowing this dog and being around this dog all the time, the feeling of emptiness inside, you know what I mean?” Sullivan said. “I have to do something about it…If the law is not going to do anything about it, I am going to do something socially and make people aware that way.”
Sullivan said any lawsuit, if one is forthcoming, would not be about the money. She said a heartfelt apology and explanation probably would have helped assuage some feelings.
When approached by Brewer immediately after the shooting, Straw admitted he shot the dog and explained that he was protecting his livelihood, but Sullivan said Straw’s explanation did not go far enough.
“There was no apology,” she said. “I think that was what made it so much worse. There was no explanation, no remorse.”
The Nov. 14 incident isn’t the first time Straw has defended his flock from dogs. “Over the past eight years, I have lost 47 sheep to dogs,” Straw said.
“I was lucky this time,” he said. At press time of all the sheep have thus far survived.
In June 2007 The Lincoln County News reported Straw lost 27 sheep to a dog attack on leased pasture in Alna.
“That time I had sheep ripped open with intestines dragging on the ground, dragging broken legs – the dog didn’t finish them. Some died and the dog never touched them; they dropped dead from the stress of being chased,” Straw said of the 2007 incident.
Straw regrets having to take the action of defending his flock. “I had two of my own dogs 30 years ago that got into the lambs,” he said. “Once they start, they’ll never stop. They were my own dogs; and they were put down.”
Since the incident, Straw has received harassing phone calls at “1, 2 and 3 o’clock in the morning, and somebody posted a picture with nasty comments on Facebook.”
Straw has been in close contact with the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office and his attorney. Family members have shut down Facebook because of the harassing comments.
“Dogs are predators, and sheep are prey,” Straw said. “I would love to educate all the dog owners about livestock and electric fences, but, in the moment when I was yelling at him to ‘git’ he looked at me, and at the sheep, and it went after them again. We have to deal with what actually happened.”
