Children Help Keep Dog Alive In Animal Cruelty Case In Agra, Investigator Says

An Agra woman is facing charges and is accused of severely neglecting her dog.

Investigators said the dog is only alive because of the kindness of children. 

Neighbors said the dog has been chained up 24 hours a day, seven days a week for months without any food or water.

The dog is malnourished. He was confined to a small area held in place with a heavy tow chain, and neighbors said the dog has been suffering for months.

“The dog's been in the same place for a very long time, and that chain is heavy. You can see a well worn path and where the debris been moved by the chain.  There’s some wear on his collar around his neck from the weight of that chain,” said Lincoln County district attorney's office investigator Ben Henderson.

The dog probably would have died weeks or months ago if it hadn’t been for some of the middle school students down the road giving the dog their own lunches, Henderson said.

“They were willing to give of themselves. Very unselfish young children that were willing to help feed this dog and nurse it back to health and give it their food,” said Agra music teacher Janene Fisher.

And that’s a pretty big deal. More than 70% of the students in Agra receive free or reduced-price lunches. Often for many of them, school meals are the only meals they get.

“When the condition of an animal affects kids so much and so deeply, that they’ll do anything to take care of it, help it, I just don’t think you can get any better than that,” Fisher said.

The dog's owner, 48-year-old Becky Hutchinson, was charged with animal cruelty.

Agra police said when they arrested her, there was no food or water for the dog. The dog is being taken to a shelter in Pottawatomie County to be checked out.

It seems the only food and attention he was getting was from good kids going to and from school.

“He knew he was going to get to eat, and he knew he would get some loving attention,” Fisher said. “So I am very very proud of these kids, and I just love them to death.”