“Whoever did it, needs to be held accountable.” Family puppy recovering after being shot with arrow.

HIBBARD — A local family says their puppy is recovering slowly after he was shot with an arrow right in their own backyard.

“Pure anger that someone would be that cruel to shoot a dog with that type of arrow. It’s awful that someone is that mean. So sad that someone has no respect for someone else’s pets,” Madison County resident Valerie Robinson said.

Robinson told EastIdahoNews.com she lives out in the country near Hibbard and has 50 acres. On Saturday, her husband Ryan was out mowing their lawn. He was taking a load of grass clippings out to their cows on the west side of their property. The family’s three dogs followed him to the pasture and they were roaming.

“We had just come into the house and it had probably been about 45 minutes later that we kind of heard a thump at our back door and so my kids opened the back door and there was blood all over and so the kids were like, ‘What the heck? It looks like something died!’” she said.

This happened between the hours of 5 p.m. and 6 p.m.

Robinson said the family called for their dogs, but only two of them came. Diesel, their nine-month-old St. Bernard didn’t come. Robinson said they found Diesel on the side of their house hiding behind a propane tank and that something was sticking out of him.

Then they all noticed there was an arrow stuck in Diesel’s leg and they called the vet immediately. The vet took a couple of x-rays and found that there were sharp razor blades in the arrow.

Diesel was lucky because the arrow didn’t hit any internal organs.

“We couldn’t pull the arrow out because of the razor blades. They had to sedate him and they had to cut him open from the underside of his belly to push the arrow all the way through because there was no way that we could pull it out because it would just create more damage because of the razor blades,” Robinson said. “They pulled the arrow out and got that part stitched up. It just tore him apart. It was awful.”

Robinson posted a few pictures on Facebook to try and warn others about what had happened. She said she didn’t include all of the pictures because they were pretty gruesome.

“You would have to be basically in our pasture to have shot him on our property,” she said.

Robinson said Diesel is in pain and has a limp when he walks because he is tender and sore. Recovery will be tough on him.

“I keep him in my garage because the vet wants me to keep him confined so that we don’t tear open any of the stitches. He’s got two sets of sores now, and drain tubes to keep infection out because we have no idea where the arrow had been,” Robinson said. “It’s morning and night of antibiotics, and painkillers, and sedation to keep him calm. He is already a calm dog but he is very timid now. He won’t leave my garage unless we are right there with him. It’s made him scared to go outside.”

Robinson said she reported what happened to her dog to the Madison County Sheriff’s Office. She also said she handed the arrow over to deputies.

Madison County Chief Deputy Bart Quayle told EastIdahoNews.com they currently have a suspect but no charges have been filed at this time and the investigation is ongoing.

“Sheriff Henry would like to add that any cruelty to animals is reprehensible and we will seek prosecution to the fullest,” Quayle said.

Idaho Code states that any person found guilty of committing cruelty to animals can be punished with a jail sentence of up to six months, a fine up to $5,000, or both. Click here to read the section of Idaho Code about animal cruelty.

“It’s awful. Whoever did it, needs to be held accountable. I hope that whoever did it will actually come forward and say, ‘I shot your dog and this is why.’ It’s still no excuse,” Robinson said.