Man says he killed neighbor’s dog to protect his peacocks

A Kathleen man has been indicted on a charge of aggravated cruelty to animals for allegedly shooting and killing his neighbor’s dog last fall.

Robert Allen Golden, 59, is accused of “maliciously” causing the dog’s death by shooting it with a rifle Oct. 29, according to a Houston County indictment handed up Tuesday.

The owner found her bleeding dog in the driveway of her Sanderfur Road home after receiving several calls from neighbors that Golden shot the dog, according to a Houston County sheriff’s report. The dog was taken to a veterinarian by the woman’s husband.

The woman told a sheriff’s deputy that the dog had run into the woods and onto Golden’s property.

But she said that Golden knew the dog was hers because she walked both of her dogs every day and that Golden didn’t have to shoot it, the report said.

Golden told the deputy that he was protecting his peacocks when he shot the dog.

Golden, who was sitting in a chair in the woods on his property hunting, said he heard a dog barking aggressively and he could hear his peacocks making noise, according to the report.

The peacocks are kept in a fence. Golden told the deputy that when he saw the dog in a clearing, he shot it, the report said.

A neighbor told the deputy that he was getting out of his work truck when he heard a gunshot, then heard a dog yipping and next saw two dogs run out of the wooded area.

He also saw a man, later identified as Golden, wearing camouflage come out of the woods carrying a rifle, according to the report.

Golden was not reached for comment.

This story was originally published February 22, 2017 at 4:59 PM with the headline "Man says he killed neighbor’s dog to protect his peacocks."