Vallejo neighbor allegedly shoots out dog's eye with slingshot
VALLEJO, Calif. - A dog in Vallejo is recovering after losing an eye in an alleged slingshot attack that Solano County Sheriff’s deputies have called a case of animal cruelty.
Kathy Zander owns a 5-year-old Maltipoo named Tippy. She put the dog in her backyard on the morning of Oct. 2 and heard a blood curdling cry shortly after.
“He was there just huddled up in a ball,” Zander said. “I rushed to the back door and he was just there in a ball.”
A vet had to perform emergency surgery on Tippy. The dog is now getting used to wearing a cone and adjusting to partial vision after losing his left eye.
“This was just a classic case of animal abuse,” she said.
Zander later checked footage from her recently installed home security cameras, a system she said she not only set up for safety, but because she was concerned about suspicious things happening to her dog in the backyard.
KTVU viewed the footage, which showed a man behind the yard's perimeter fence using a slingshot to hit Tippy with a metal object.
Ken Kramer with the Solano County Sheriff’s Office said 69-year-old Daryl Crockett was arrested on felony animal cruelty on Oct. 6.
KTVU went to his house to give Crockett an opportunity to respond. He had no comment.
Zander suspected her neighbor had been trying to hurt Tippy for some time. She believes he sent an unsigned letter to neighbors a few years ago complaining about the dog’s barking.
“I wish he would have come to me first because as soon as we found out about it we bought various bark collars and decided to make him a house dog,” she said.
She never thought Crockett’s frustrations with her dog would come to this.
“I hope he’s learned that this is not acceptable,” Zander added. “Animals have rights and they have feelings too.”
Zander hopes she and her neighbor can move past the experience, saying she would like to see the situation get resolved so everyone can be happy.
Crockett is expected to appear before a judge at a later date.