The most recent incident was the Halloween slaying of two pet pygmy goats at Northlake Elementary School — less than half a mile from where they had been stolen from a backyard pen.
The slain goats were discovered by a neighbor whose fence boarders the school yard. During the night, he had heard what he thought to be children crying and went to investigate. When he drove his vehicle around to the grassy area surrounding the school, he saw three teenage boys with the goats. The man called police but the juveniles fled before police were able to respond. The goats were found partially or fully decapitated.
The goats’ owner, Tooele resident Dena Linnell, was out of town at the time of the slaying, but was notified by police via phone and asked to identify the child-friendly goats she and her husband had purchased for her 2-year-old son less than a year ago.
“It’s so disturbing to think that someone would do that,” Linnell said in an interview following the killing.
Animal rights activists who heard Linnell’s story pledged $5,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those involved with the brutal slaying — $3,000 from the Humane Society of Utah and $2,000 from the Animal Advocacy Alliance of Utah — but Tooele police say no one has come forward yet.
A week prior to the goat murder, rancher Wes Clegg reported the shooting of three horses and a cow on his property west of Tooele near Sheep Lane. On the same night, one of Clegg’s hound dogs — which was chained up with other dogs on 1000 West in Tooele — was also found dead with a bullet through its head.
“[The shooter] must have started at Sheep Lane, where the new [Midvalley] trail is, and just gone down the trail shooting on either side,” Clegg said at the time. “One horse had 15 holes in it.”
Other animal cruelty cases reported during the year include a dog stabbing in July on Seventh Street in Tooele. A blue healer named Dog had been let out with another dog routinely — with its owner present — before turning in for the evening. When Dog rounded a corner out of the owner’s view, he made a yelping sound, and then ran back to his owner covered in blood. A local veterinarian described Dog’s wound as a 1/2 by 1 1/2-inch knife puncture to the chest. Police still have no leads in the case.
Back in May, the Humane Society of Utah joined up with state and local farm bureaus, the Utah Cattlemen’s Association and the Tooele County Commission in offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of anyone involved in the shooting of nine cows and a week-old calf in Skull Valley. The bounty in this case too, has also failed to bring informants forward.
Tooele County was also in the spotlight during 2008 for the growing problem of cats being dumped at the Tooele County landfill and horses suffering from malnutrition, inadequate living conditions, and a lack of proper grooming and medical care because of negligent owners.
Local animal rights activists say these cases point to a disturbing trend of cruelty against animals, perhaps brought on by a growing population.
“Our city has grown,” said Debra Bush, animal control supervisor for Tooele City and the director of the Tooele Animal Shelter, in November. “When you bring in additional unsavory elements then you will see a rise in these types of cases as well.”
Jamie Belnap: jamieb@tooeletranscript.com
this was a month ago