Posted on 03/29/2023 11:43:45 AM PDT by Red Badger
TULSA, Okla. (KTUL) — A Bixby man wants justice for his miniature donkeys he says were shot to death at his Creek County property last week.
Dave Willhite spoke with NewsChannel 8 Monday, just days after he said he had to bury his donkeys of two decades, Pete and Patsy.
"I've raised them as my pets," said Willhite. "I know some people understand. Some people don't understand."
Willhite said he visited the property frequently, often taking time to sit and visit with his animals he described as being no more different for him than a dog or cat.
He said he also raised the two donkeys since Pete was a year old and Patsy was six months old.
Willhite said he didn't expect anything to come of keeping them at the property after having the donkeys in other locations over the years, but everything changed last Friday.
"Friday afternoon I got a call," said Willhite. "Came out, they had been both shot."
Willhite said he could clearly see that Pete had been shot, but that examining Patsy's injuries proved to be more difficult.
"Patsy, we could not find a puncture wound, but she had also been chewed up by coyotes a little bit," said Willhite.
NewsChannel 8 reached out to the Creek County Sheriff's Office for comment on the investigation.
Chief Deputy Fred Clark told NewsChannel 8 that the investigation was ongoing, but had been made difficult by the amount that Pete and Patsy's bodies had decomposed before the investigation could begin.
Clark said that the investigation isn't closed, but that moving forward could be difficult without additional witnesses coming forward.
NewsChannel 8 also reached out to the Oklahoma Alliance For Animals, in hopes of getting more context from an animal cruelty expert on how Willhite's case compared to other Oklahomans.
"It's shocking, it's shocking, it's very sad," said Oklahoma Alliance For Animals Cruelty Case Coordinator Ruth Steinberger. "[The person responsible] can face cruelty charges, and in Oklahoma that's a felony."
Both Steinberger and Willhite agreed that the person or people responsible are unlikely to come forward, but believe someone has to know something.
Willhite said he's also offering a $10,000 reward for anyone with information that could lead to an arrest.
"They're my babies," said Willhite. "I'm not rich... but they're my babies. I'm not gonna put a dollar figure on them. If somebody guaranteed me they could get [the person responsible] I'd pay $20,000 to get this sucker."
If anyone has information that could help, they're asked to call the Creek County Sheriff's Office at 918-224-2964 and ask for Sergeant James Pruitt.
Willhite and his family can also be contacted at the following numbers to give more information:
918-943-6174
918-752-7963
918-805-4048
918-527-4504
Family looks for answers after four miniature donkeys shot, killed in Mississippi:
https://www.wbrz.com/news/family-looks-for-answers-after-four-miniature-donkeys-shot-killed-in-mississippi
Farm life Ping!..................
What pleasure is there in killing someone's pet donkeys?
If you must kill something, kill a drug dealer.
My daughter has dwarf goats, and she is like that. One of the smaller ones started getting his head stuck in the fence so I was on goat duty all day yesterday while she was at work so that I could unstick his head. She’s home today modifying the fence.
I’m like that about my dogs.
While this is awful and should be considered a crime, it is not *murder*.
Preach it!!!!!!!
Maybe they choked on someone’s cut off fingers.
We had a patron who had two of them, and one passed of old age, essentially. Now, he was one tough and crusty old bugger. But the surviving donkey went into serious mourning and it broke the guy’s heart. He was unable to contain himself when inquiring about who might have one for sale to keep her company. Broke my own dang heart to see his pain.
There’s no shortage of cruelty and savagery in this world. We see more of it here every day.
We all want somebody or something to love without holding back. “Don’t you want somebody to love?
Don’t you need somebody to love?”
That’s part of the human condition. Life is more than just survival. A full life means giving something of yourself to others.
What?
You hurt or kill one of my dogs. You are going to really regret it. No telling what I might do to you.
Happened in a recent movie. The Banshees of Inisherin. Those animals seem pretty sweet. I can see how people get attached to them.
Queen had a pretty good song about that.......
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Banshees_of_Inisherin
Sounded like a horrible movie/film.
But each to their own.
With something like this, the first suspects to look at are always going to be the neighbors. They may have been his “babies”, but to everyone else near them, they were just animals, and animals can do things that annoy people, making noise, knocking down fences, etc. So look at the people in a position to have been so annoyed...
Yes, I considered that as well.
Teenagers also.....................
How sad! My Mule is a PITA, but I would still feel very sad if someone flat-out killed him for no reason. I hope justice is served! Mini Donkey’s are very smart and very cute. My neighbor with the horse ranch rescues and re-homes them from time to time. People love them; they act like a big dog.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to feed and water and muck out my beef steer’s portion of the barn and dream about future ‘Chuck’ steaks on the grill... ;)
Same here! A County cop followed us home from town the other day and I have been fretting over that. They didn’t stop us but it was concerning. They recently broke in a home near me by climbing through a window at 2:00am and shot both of the family dogs when they tried to protect their home.
I had a nightmare Monday night that they broke into our house and shot mine. I couldn’t go back to sleep and was up at 4:30 drinking coffee. My daughter is grown. My granddaughter is grown. My dogs are family. I will defend them like family.
Yes. The solo with the gospel choir. Tremendous and resonating.
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