Booness hangs her dog - Texas City

[TxTiger]

Woman charged with hanging her dog

01:50 AM CDT on Saturday, April 5, 2008

TEXAS CITY -- Trena Morse carefully guards her 2-year-old daughter's every step.

That's because, while she took those same steps Monday police say a pit bull jumped the little girl from behind at a Texas City apartment complex.

“I discovered puncture wounds and bites on her buttocks and on her side,”��”�� said Morse. “I started crying, I was frantic. I didn't know how my daughter was doing.”��”��

Hospital records show the girl has been treated for a dog bite and Morse says her daughter is now recovering.

Meanwhile, animal control officers told 32-year-old Tiffany Hegwood to turn in her pet.

Tifianny Hegwood has been charged with one count of animal cruelty.
She eventually came in, but the dog was already dead.

After first saying, she and a friend shot and killed the dog and then buried it. Eventually Hegwood fessed up and told investigators she hanged the dog from a tree said police.

She's now charged with animal cruelty.

“I kept hearing dogs fighting and sounded like they were hurting each other,”��”�� said neighbor Charlotte Holthaus.

She says aggressive dogs are not new to this complex and she says other residents may be part of the problem.

“They had big old chains around their neck. But they were still letting them go at each other,”��”�� said Holthaus. “There are kids here. And I don't want pit bulls killing anybody.”��”��

Another neighbor, who asked not to be identified, said a pit bull trapped his wife on top of a car.

“I hit the dog once with my shoe and it backed up,”��”�� he said.

Apartment manager Jennifer Blake says the property just recently changed hands and the new owner has banned all pit bulls from the complex.

Which was good news for Morse.

“These dogs are dangerous. It could happen to anyone's child,”��”�� she said.

http://www.khou.com/news/local/stories/khou080404_tj_doghanged.30f3b478.html