A suspect accused of shooting to death eight dogs pleaded not guilty in the Sevier County District Court in De Queen, Ark., this week through his attorney.
Brian Moore, 25, of Sevier County, Ark., faces eight counts of animal cruelty. He did not appear in the district court Tuesday, but was represented by Ashdown attorney Mickey Buchanan who entered the not guilty pleas.
District Court Judge Manya Wood scheduled a trial date for March 14.
Moore allegedly shot eight dogs and some of the animals had microchips from a Fort Worth, Texas, animal shelter, according to records. The dogs were found dead at the house where Moore and his girlfriend lived.
"His girlfriend went to the dog rescue place and she rescued these dogs and would adopt them," Buchanan said.
The dogs started biting people and even killed a neighbor's calf, the attorney said.
The girlfriend moved to another state and Moore was getting complaints about the dogs being vicious and running in packs, the attorney said.
"He (Moore) had to put them down. The dogs were becoming dangerous to people and he put the dogs down," Buchanan said.
"Moore was working and there was nothing he could do with the dogs. It was getting so bad. He had to do something."
Moore's girlfriend has not been interviewed, arrested or charged in the case, officials say. The investigation is ongoing.
The Sevier County Sheriff's Department's investigation into the cruelty to animals started Dec. 3 when Whitney Harrison, executive director of the Ark-La-Tex Animals Rescue in Texarkana, contacted the agency. She had found several dead dogs and four living dogs at a residence on Bradley Chapel Road in Horatio, according to reports.
Harrison told Deputy Investigator Brian Hankins about Moore and his girlfriend living at the residence. The couple was approved to foster dogs for the animal rescue in April 2016. Harrison said the couple had pulled several dogs from a shelter in Fort Worth, Texas, under the local rescue's name.
The couple were supposed to foster the dogs until they could find a "forever home."
The sheriff's department report states Hankins contacted Fort Worth Animal Cruelty Office Ryan Jacobs, who confirmed all of the microchips came from a Fort Worth shelter.
Harrison was contacted Nov. 29 by Becca Gideon, who said several stray dogs had shown up at her house with Fort Worth animal shelter identification tags.
Harrison said another woman in the area had posted on her Facebook page about dead dogs on the property she was renting, according to reports.
Harrison said Moore's girlfriend had left the area Nov. 17 and Moore had left town Nov. 18.
Harrison went to the house in Horatio and discovered animal bones littering the yard and found at least eight dead animals, according to reports. She scanned the dead animals and most of them had microchips from Fort Worth.
Moore and his girlfriend supposedly pulled 127 dogs and cats from one shelter, according to reports.
On Dec. 6, Sevier County Chief Deputy Chad Dowdle interviewed Moore and he allegedly said he and his girlfriend worked with Ark-La-Texas Animal Rescue.
Moore said they fostered dogs considered "unadoptable," and many of the dogs had pre-existing conditions, such as heartworms, mange or other injuries.
Moore was charged with eight misdemeanor counts of animal cruelty Dec. 8, but a plea was not entered until Tuesday.
One of the dogs found dead on the property was a 1-year-old pit bull mix named Charlie, said rescuers. He had been hit by a car and used a canine wheelchair to get around.
The Ark-La-Tex Animal Rescue in Texarkana, Texas, issued a plea on their Facebook page for help to locate more than 200 missing dogs.
The Facebook statement was attributed to Harrison asking for help to locate the animals.
The post reaches out to "the rescue community, transporters, cross posters, fosters, volunteers, friends, and even family that may have any scrap of information that may tell" the location of more than 200 animals that came into the possession of Moore and his girlfriend between April 2016 and November 2016.
"Look through your old messages, texts, Facebook posts, receipts, and think hard, then contact me. Everything will be taken into consideration. We have to be the voices for the voiceless in this nightmare Please share this with anyone and everyone. We will post updates often " states the Facebook post.