Maryland 9-year-old burns neighbor dog

A 9-year-old boy in Maryland is being accused of burning his neighbor’s dog. The Mirror.com has reported that there was footage of the child entering the neighbor yard and exiting during the time that this happened with no one else present at the time, although footage of the attack itself was not captured. The images of the burns this pitbull terrier suffered you can view here, but fair warning, it is graphic.

Unfortunately, it does not appear there are legal remedies available without direct evidence of the abuse of this dog by this child. Based on the extent of the burns on this dog and the fact that there’s no reporting of this dog attacking the child, he allowed the child to continue to burn him repeatedly; this was a very friendly, sweet dog who absolutely was attacked by a budding psychopath. The mental and developmental issues involved in going into the neighbor’s yard and doing this are appalling and I guarantee this is not the first incidence of psychotic behavior against animals and probably humans. I would not trust this child around animals or humans.

What should happen? The neighbor absolutely needs to pay for all vet bills, publicly apologize, and seek professional help for their child. There is a GoFundMe that you can contribute to here to help cover the vet bills. This is absolutely unacceptable and the parents should be ashamed and apologizing.