By Dena Sloan
Globe Staff Writer
Pokey, a miniature pet donkey, had slowed down in his old age and couldn't move very quickly, but the 14-year-old animal still held a special place in the heart of his owner, Jean Whited, of rural Joplin.
"When neighbors came by, they wouldn't ask about my kids or the grandkids; they'd ask, 'How's Pokey doing?' " Whited said.
The 32-inch-tall donkey spent his days in Whited's front yard on Alpaca Road, southwest of Joplin.
Now, a Joplin man is facing a charge of animal abuse after his three pit bulls allegedly mauled and killed Pokey in front of Whited and her husband.
The Newton County prosecutor's office issued a summons for Carl Cusick. Cusick could not be located
The issue was brought to authorities' attention when Whited filed a complaint with the Newton County Sheriff's Department.
Whited, who lives next door to Cusick's property, said she and her husband found three pit bulls attacking Pokey in their front yard after returning home from a shopping trip Feb. 20.
Whited's husband, Jack, scared the dogs away, but Pokey already had suffered serious injuries. The 65-year-old woman called a veterinarian to attend to the animal, but Pokey died that night.
See Attack, Page 4A
"His back legs were basically like hamburger," said Kurtis Gregory, the Columbus, Kan., veterinarian who treated the donkey that afternoon. "He had so many bites in both his back legs, they were too numerous to count.
"They missed the jugular by about half an inch. Little Pokey was in pretty intense pain by the time I got there. I had to almost anesthetize him to get him to relax."
Jean Whited said the donkey was a gift from her son who died of cancer a few years ago. "Those dogs literally mauled my little donkey," she said. "He absolutely didn't deserve to be chewed and mauled."
Sheriff's deputies also are looking into an incident last week in which a pit bull that had been shot four times was found on Alpaca Road. The animal was taken to Parkview Animal Hospital in Joplin on Feb. 24. One of the dog's legs had to be amputated.
The animal had not been claimed by an owner as of Wednesday afternoon. Jim Christman, the veterinarian treating the animal, was not available to comment on the dog's condition.
Whited said she believes it is one of the dogs that attacked her donkey.
"I don't know who shot it," she said. "I wish I'd have had a gun that day or I'd have done it."
Janice Kohler, another Alpaca Road resident, said packs of roaming dogs have long been a problem in the area, and she doesn't let her Chihuahua into her back yard for fear of it being attacked.
Kohler said people periodically dump dogs in the area, leaving them to scour for food. She said she often sees groups of dogs roaming up and down the street. She said three batches of ducks and geese have been killed by dogs.
"I've quit buying them (birds) because I'm tired of replacing them," she said.
The Sheriff's Department has received dog-related complaints from the area, but it doesn't have the capability to trap animals, said Capt. Richard Leavens.
The county does not have an animal-control officer, and those in Neosho and Joplin will pick up an animal only if it has been trapped or penned, he said.
"If animals are attacking children, we'll do our best to fix that problem," Leavens said.
In less serious animal-related cases, the department will not assign an officer to wait for and trap the animal because of "our limited manpower," he said.
"It's a matter of priority, having to take a look at the overall scheme of things," he said.
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