HOHENWALD, Tenn. (WKRN) – The man who shot an eight-pound Yorkie in Tennessee said he shot the dog because it was highly aggressive, unpredictable, and he was fearful it might have rabies.
Michael Seagraves has not been charged and he says he did nothing criminal. “I’m not a monster,” Seagraves said. “I’m not this demon who shoots dogs.”
The Hohenwald grandfather says his family’s safety has been threatened since the shooting incident on March 2. “[We] have received threats of people saying they would shoot me in both my knees,” Seagraves said. “There are threats of people coming to my house in the middle of the night to burn my house down.”
According to Seagraves, he was working on his home March 2 when, suddenly, two dogs rushed onto his property. One of the dogs was Gizmo, the eight-pound Yorkie.
Seagraves said he has never seen the dogs before, and they were both very aggressive, circling him, barking and nipping at his legs.
“I don’t know whose dogs these are, they have no collars on and they come from a neighborhood behind my house and [are] non-stop biting me,” Seagraves recalled. “1 kept kicking at them and it was nonstop biting me. I gave these dogs every opportunity to get off my property and stop biting me. “
When asked why he didn’t call animal control, Seagraves said, “I’ve called animal control so many times, it is ridiculous.”
The grandfather said he went into his home and retrieved his firearm. When he went back outside, Seagraves said, he did not immediately start shooting. However, the dogs came back and, once again, they were aggressive and threatening.
“I decided to fire two rounds into the ground to scare the little dog off. and it did. Scared the little black one off, but the little brown one did a trip around the car and came right back to biting me. All I can think is a dog that aggressive there has to be something wrong with it
Seagraves said he was highly suspicious that the dogs were rabid because of how aggressive and how strangely he believes they were behaving.
“Rabies doesn’t discriminate on size, and that is what everyone is concentrating on the size of this dog. rabies doesn’t look at this little 8-pound dog and say, ‘Oh look how adorable and cute this dog is.’ That is not how rabies works.
“It’s not a question of me being scared of an eight-pound dog, said Seagraves. “It is a real question of what disease these animals could pass on to my granddaughter.”
A report is expected to be presented to the district attorney for review. Mr. Seagraves tells News 2 he has done nothing wrong and he does not expect to be charged.
As for his neighbors feeling threatened by the shooting, Seagraves said there was no one nearby when he opened fire.
He said after the shooting, the people watching Gizmo quickly rushed to his property.
Seagraves said he chambered a bullet in his weapon to protect himself from a man rapidly approaching that he did not know.
“This man was storming toward me on my property. I said do not come closer, stay where you are, do not come closer. He would not say a single word and he had a look on his face like he wanted to murder me and he kept storming at me,” said Seagraves. “He pressed his body against my arm and pushed me back. I stepped back several feet and then I chambered a round, only when I felt I was seriously threatened…I’m on my property and have to protect myself.
