ForumGarden

EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. (AP) - When Thomas Carroll couldn't come up with the $125 in fines and fees to bail his pet Weimaraner out of the dog pound, investigators say he broke into the pound to free his pooch and three others.

The dogs' liberation didn't last long, and authorities soon caught up with Carroll, charging the Glen Carbon man Tuesday with two felony burglary counts. Carroll, 20, remained jailed Wednesday on $50,000 bond.

Madison County Sheriff's Lt. Brad Wells said animal control officers told Carroll on April 5 they had picked up his dog, Titus, after finding him running loose. Five days later, on Monday, workers at the Metro East Humane Society in Edwardsville and at the county's neighboring animal-control building found that someone had broken into their buildings, Wells said.

Nothing was taken from the Humane Society, though Titus and three other dogs were missing from animal control, Wells said. Carroll quickly became a suspect and investigators think he freed the three other strays as a distraction to cover his tracks.

Titus was to be returned to Madison County and be put up for adoption, Wells said. Carroll did not have an attorney of record as of Wednesday morning, a Madison County Circuit Court clerk said.

Not knowing all the details of the story, I'd say the guy needed to have better control of his dog. Why was it running loose?

Oh, I do understand that the fees were high, couldn't they have let him pay it back a little at a time?

In retrospect, if he can't afford the fine, he probably can't affod to keep the dog either. This is a hard view, but what would happen if the dog became ill and needed treatment?

Over here, we have vets that provide treatment for poor people. But they still depend on contributions to keep going.