A southeastern Pennsylvania man has been sentenced to nearly a year in prison for shooting his dog after it had attacked his neighbors' pets.
Gary Kirk pleaded guilty in July to animal cruelty and a weapons offense resulting from a felony drug conviction 20 years ago. A Bucks County judge sentenced him to 11-1/2 to 23 months in prison on Thursday.
Neighbors called police last March after hearing a gunshot on Kirk's Newtown Township property. Police found the dog shot in the head but still alive. It was later euthanized.
The Bucks County Courier Times reports Judge Wallace Bateman told Kirk he should have taken to dog to a vet instead.
Kirk's attorney, Ray McHugh, submitted a psychologist's report saying the fifth-generation farmer's lifestyle was "at odds with suburban living."
"This was a family pet. It was upsetting for him to do this," McHugh said. "He was traumatized by it."
