Magnum: Mortally wounded but a victim of neglect

   This is a story of passage.
    It’s not really a tribute.
    Though, of course, this Bassett fellow Magnum was certainly worthy of tribute just by virtue of being a dog.
    As a dog in neglectful, gun-happy and sometimes downright mean North Texas, Magnum had the odds stacked against him. But there were people who ignored the odds. They thought they’d changed the odds.
    We have gathered the facts of his life – as much as they are known – from Molly Peterson, President of the Collin County Humane Society, the organization that tried to create a safe haven and find a lifetime home for this dog.
Collin County is due north of Dallas. Magnum was in the Granbury Animal Shelter – that’s southwest of Fort Worth. Networking. Word of mouth.  A call here. An e-mail there. Sometimes connections are made.
    A year ago Magnum was on the euthanasia list at the Granbury shelter and described an emaciated senior dog with bad skin issues. You can see in his "before" photos that he was handsome and, yet, had something tragic in his countenance.
    “We took him in anyway,” says Molly. “He turned out to be under a year old and his skin issues were flea allergies. Our foster [Stacy Hague] nursed him back to health and he was adopted just over a month later by this family that clearly knew what they were doing when she posed as the adopter.”
Magnum was 11 months old. Stacy tracked down these photos of young Magnum for us.
    Molly says the boy was adopted a month later “by a family where he was expected to live a long happy life.
    “CCHS received a call Tuesday morning that Magnum had been shot and killed.”
Who shoots and kills a Basset? And why?
    And how did his original rescuers come back in contact with this tragic dog? The little fellow was still wearing his Collin County Humane Society tags.
    Those tags may have been symbols of the only time Magnum was ever treated with love and respect in his all-too-brief life.
    The story continues from Molly: “We tracked the tag on him back to the adopter who explained that she had decided to ‘loan’ him to her daughter for companionship while her husband was away for 3 months. During that time, the daughter decided to allow him to roam the streets as he pleased.”
         This is in Valley View, north of Dallas. Let him roam as he pleased, she said. 
    Roaming was a death sentence. A death sentence.
    Magnum had, Molly writes, “joined up with a pack of stray dogs who were injuring and/killing a local mini-horse farmer’s miniature horses. The dogs were reportedly cornering the man’s horses and attacking their legs, leaving them lame [and] needing to be put to sleep.
“Being that Magnum was the slowest in the group, when he [the farmer] caught them in the act Tuesday morning, he shot him in the chest, killing him on the spot. Magnum was wearing his CCHS tags so that was when he contacted the vet and traced him back to us.
    “We are all completely and utterly devastated by this news. This is the prime reason that CCHS (and most rescue groups) have a very strict adoption contract that stipulates that all adopters must return the dog to CCHS if they are no longer able to care for him/her so we can use our resources to find them a home that they deserve instead of being cast out to the pasture to fend for themselves. 
    “This is also why it clearly states on our contract that dogs cannot be allowed to roam free and must be kept in a fenced yard when they are outside.|
    “Where does the law lie with Rescue when we are faced with this horrific news that the adopters violated the contract and Magnum suffered a horrific fate due to their neglect.
    “It doesn't matter if they ‘loaned’ the dog to a family member or if they gave him away (the details of which are currently under investigation). The adopters are responsible for the dog until his last day or until he is rightfully surrendered back to CCHS (per the adoption agreement). “Tuesday morning was Magnum's last day and I can assure you that CCHS will pursue this to the fullest degree to ensure that Magnum’s death will not be brushed under the rug. CCHS wants to ensure that no other horses are harmed, that the adopters are held accountable and the dogs doing these acts are stopped.
    “This all could have been easily prevented and is sickening that he is now deceased due to the careless neglect of the adopters by placing him in the ‘care’ of this family.”
    Molly has a plea for other rescuers. “Please help us spread the word and awareness about this issue so that we can work to prevent this from happening to other dogs. Adopters need to take the adoption agreement seriously.”
    She says that CCHS has established a “chip-in” for Magnum's legal fees “to pursue this family in court and get Magnum (and all of the other dogs that wind up in unapproved adoptive homes) the justice he/they deserve.”
    That chip-in link is HERE. You can contact the Society at its link HERE . Write to the society at PO Box 2733 McKinney, Texas 75070. The Facebook link is HERE.
    Money, of course, cannot change the key elements of this story. It won’t buy more life for the dog. It won’t buy a do-over for the Collin County Humane Society – now upset at having tried hard to help Magnum and having placed him with a family that, ultimately, betrayed him.
    Yes, that is a photograph of the lifeless body of Magnum, his magnificent ears now draped unnaturally into the grass on which he has fallen, his eyes open and seeing nothing and his body irreversibly stilled by a gunshot.
    A man protecting his animals may have fired that shot, but that’s not what killed Magnum. No, the actions of someone who didn’t care killed this dog. 
    In retrospect, as we bring this to a close, perhaps it actually is more of a tribute than it is a passage. It is a tribute to Magnum because he touched people. He inspired them to try to give him a life – he inspired them to hunt for good people to love him. 
    Sometimes people cannot be trusted to love. And isn’t that a sad thing.
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Comments

[Sandy Mulkey]

I read about Magnum on FB and I think it's one of the saddest stories I read in a long time. I'm so sorry this happened to Magnum and no, he did not deserve what happened. Maybe ALL thoses people who failed Magnum should be put in the same field and have the same thing happen to them. Not a fatal shot, just a very painful wound (and lots of them). Sorry, I do feel this way when it comes to animals. I have 2 rescues with me now, and yes I did do alot of paper work to adopt them, but I did not mind and they are well worth it. No reason for me to go on, guess I'm just P***ed Off about the sorry people who were suppose to love Magnum.
RIP Magnum.

[Sarah Hays]

Indeed, rest in peace, Magnum.

To the sorry excuses for humans who created this tragedy: I hope you get the justice you deserve.

[Judith Wittels]

I am sick after reading this story. I can understand anger I can understand trying to protect another animal I can not understand hating so much and shooting a dog especially a basset, a basset with a soft gentle mouth. My basset carried a live bird inside uninjured. The only condolences is that if God heard the shot he died immediately. Rest in Peace sweet puppie. I am so so very sorry.

[saunja lee]

Stacy,so sorry to hear this story.I pray that you know that you did everything right. You loved
Magnum and got him healthy to be adopted. That is what you do and have done for years. You did the home visit and all the instructions and paperwork. Then you gave away a portion of your heart, so that you could continue to bring in fosters.I will never understand how someone can let a dog go. They are your family. You keep them protected. Please if I can help in any way, do home visits every few weeks or email pictures or send in the mail. Whatever I can do to help so that this does not happen again.Rest in Peace Sweet Magnum! We loved your pool picture, BamBam,Mona,Lindsey and Saunja, Jr. and Jessica.

[bekki harvey]

I encourage CCHS to pursue the negligent owners and prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law. Poor little Magnum, he did not deserve to die like this. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.