Owner searches for answers after two pet pigs shot on private property
WADMALAW ISLAND, S.C. (WCSC) - One Lowcountry woman is searching for answers after she found her two pets shot in Charleston County.
Jessica-Ann Dupree left her property to run errands on April 3. She says she returned less than two hours later to find a trail of blood leading from the porch, up the patio stairs and into the house.
Dupree said her two miniature pigs, Alfie and Petunia, were like family to her. The two indoor pigs are fully house-trained and spent time cuddling on the couch.
She said she never could have imagined the graphic scene she came home to.
“I didn’t deserve this and neither did they,” Dupree said.
She said she returned home to a bloody scene, finding her pig, Petunia, laying on her bed-- bleeding from her back leg. She then loaded Petunia into the back of the car, frantically searching for Petunia’s brother, Alfie, but couldn’t find him.
After dropping Petunia at the vet, she continued her search - discovering a grim scene that broke her heart.
“I was just kneeling down beside him with my hands on him, and my pappous [grandfather in German] put his hands on my shoulders and said ‘you need to go back into the house, you don’t need to see this,’” Dupree said.
She said she found Alfie a stone’s throw away from her home on her property, with a gunshot wound to his head.
According to the police report Dupree filed with the Charleston County Sheriff’s office, no shell casings were found in the initial search, and nothing of interest was found on the security cameras.
Except the last video of Alfie alive, where he appears to perk his ears in the direction of the property where he was found shot hours later.
Both veterinarians who worked on Dupree’s surviving pig, Petunia, said they’ve never treated a pet pig in this condition before.
“As far as a gunshot wound to a pig, that’s pretty unusual,” Dr. Henri Bianucci, a Veterinary Surgeon at Veterinary Specialty Care Blue Pearl, said.
But Bianucci said unfortunately gunshot wounds to other animals are not that uncommon.
In fact, he said within the last six months, two dogs have been shot along Maybank Highway-- within one mile of Dupree’s property.
“It’s hard to give advice to somebody who is following all the rules. She had her own pets on her own property, and they weren’t bothering anyone else, and this happened,” Bianucci said.
As for Dupree, she said she hopes sharing her story will help protect other pets on the islands, and just maybe, lead to information about what happened to Alfie and Petunia.
“I want viewers to be aware of the dangers that are out here,” Dupree said. “I have been out here my entire life; I don’t bother anyone I keep to myself and for me to have been so violated- my animals to have been put through what they have- it’s so unnecessary. It’s scary.”
The Charleston County Sheriff’s Office said the investigation is ongoing. They ask anyone with any information to call their Animal Control unit at 843-554-2440.
Copyright 2023 WCSC. All rights reserved.
