'Please stop shooting our dogs': Santa Cruz couple says someone is shooting their dogs with airsoft guns
Santa Cruz County Animal Services is investigating a video that appears to show a Santa Cruz couple's dog being hit with a projectile in the couple's backyard.
"They're scared. They're scared in their backyard," Andre Motley said of his two dogs, Sheldon and Raj.
Motley and his wife, Kyrsten Juri-Motley, say the attacks have been happening for about a year and a half.
"They have little nicks on them that we can't really explain and their personality has changed a lot," Juri-Motley said.
Motley said he's found BBs, marbles and aquarium rocks while surveying his yard, even though he doesn't have an aquarium.
Motley said he first noticed his dogs were being attacked when one of his neighbors told him she wanted to shoot his dogs, which prompted him to spend hundreds of dollars installing cameras.
"I've been moving cameras around trying to catch different angles of this person doing it, but to no luck," Motley said. "Anyone that can hurt an animal is sick."
He said the neighbor that made the threat moved months ago.
"They're still being shot at. They're torturing my dogs," Motley said.
Torture is exactly how the Santa Cruz County Animal Services is describing the repeated attacks, saying they'll pursue the strongest possible penalty if they can find whose responsible.
"This isn't just one time. This is repeated abuse of an animal that in my mind rises to the level of felony torture," Santa Cruz County Animal Services Field Services Manager Todd Stosuy said.
Andre said he and his wife have tried accommodating complaints, even buying bark collars when someone left an anonymous letter in their mailbox.
"I don't like them. I feel like they're inhumane, but I'm trying not to make my dogs be targets," Juri-Motley said.
"If you have a problem with us, we'll try and fix it. We have collars. Stop shooting our dogs please. They're really nice dogs. They're very good boys," Motley said.