A Chiropractor from Virginia is facing animal cruelty charges after killing a German Shepherd with a bow and arrow. The 47-year-old Chiropractor, Howard Van Nostrand, says he shot the dog out of fear. However, he was in a 15-foot-tall tree stand at the time of the incident and his text messages from that day paint another picture.

The Daily Mail reports that Nostrand was hunting when two German Shepherds came into the hunting area. The dogs were Morgan and Zeus, family pets that lived nearby. The family says the dogs went on their normal run through the woods and back to their house. However, only Zeus returned. Morgan would never make it home. Craig and Karen LeValley, the dog’s owners, say that they reported the dog missing to the local sheriff’s office. The sheriff was unable to locate the dog so the couple went out searching. What they found was horrifying. Their German Shepherd had been shot with two arrows and was lying dead in the woods.

Nostrand has admitted to shooting the dog with his bow and arrow. He claims he has a childhood fear of being cornered by dogs; therefore, he shot the dog out of fear.

“He was cornered by dogs when he was younger and didn’t want to take that chance again.”

However, the sheriff’s department say the story doesn’t quite add up since Nostrand was in a 15-foot-tall tree stand at the time of the shooting. Fox News reports that in addition to the fact the chiropractor was high in a tree at the time of the incident, he also sent damning text messages to another hunter discussing the dogs. The text messages, which were read during court, indicate that Nostrand was upset because the dogs were disrupting their hunting season. Therefore, Norstrand sent a text to the other hunter in the area letting him know that he had shot the dog and taken care of the problem.

The LeValley family says that the shooting of their dog was a calculated attack and that Nostrand should face charges for the killing.

“It’s not an accident, it was a calculated shot. Every shot with a bow is extremely calculated. There’s not one thing that I could say to him, because nothing that I can say, nothing I can do will ever bring my dog back.”

Nostrand has been charged with cruelty to animals and destruction of personal property greater than $1,000.

Do you think the chiropractor should be charged with animal cruelty for shooting the German Shepherd with a bow and arrow? Did he have any reason to be fearful while in the tree stand?

[Image Credit: Getty Images/ Christopher Furlong]