Andrea Rosebrock 
A pitbull is again the victim of a sick piece of scum’s warped mentality. Earlier this month, Travis Bradford, 20, near Natchez, MS, tied his 1-year-old female pitbull to a tree in a neighbor’s yard, poured flammable liquid on her and set her ablaze.
Hattie Smith who lived at the residence saw something going on in her yard, a man burning something, but she didn’t know what he was burning at first.
“But it was screaming and barking and crying,” she said. “It was terrible.”
Horrified, she called the police and confronted Bradford, told him to extinguish the flames.
“He just looked so full of rage, and he screamed that he didn’t know it was my property,” she said. “He’s very disturbed.”
Bradford then beat out the flames with his shirt, grabbed the severely injured dog and took off. Police found him at his home shortly thereafter.
The dog, taken to a local vet had to be humane euthanized and at court last week Nan Garrison, VP of the Natchez-Adams Humane Society, choking back tears, talked about the dog.
“Lighter fluid went all over her head, down in her ears, down in her mouth and down in her eyes,” Garrison said. “I was just sitting here thinking about this and I know it sounds selfish, but we pay a price for seeing that kind of thing done to animals. It haunts you.”
Although Bradford offered a note of apology to the court he never did offer any explanation for his cruel, horrific actions that took the life of an innocent creature.
Unfortunately in Mississippi, the crime could only be prosecuted as a misdemeanor and even the judge spoke up about the atrocity and the need for stricter penalties for abusing pets as he sentenced Bradford to the max of 6 months jail and a $1000 fine.
“It is one of the most horrific things that I’ve ever had to deal with and I’ve been a judge for almost 20 years,” said Adams County Justice Court Judge Charlie Vess. “It’s just unfortunate with our laws that something like this is a misdemeanor and it should be a felony.”
“You can steal a man’s dog and that’s a felony, but you tie a dog to a tree and burn it and that’s a misdemeanor,” Adams County Sheriff’s Department Investigator Gerald Mooney added. “Half its tongue had been burned off.”
I applaud Judge Vess for imposing the maximum sentence that he could and that both he and the Sheriff’s Department Investigator stood up and acknowledged that need for stricter laws for animal abuse crimes.
The sentence, although scant justice for the vicious crime, is the best that could come of this but hopefully this will galvanize law makers, animal advocates and the public to push for stronger laws for real justice. As for Bradford, maybe he’ll make a new friend or two even in jail that will teach him a little about justice. We can only hope.
I HOPE THAT THERE WILL BE A FOLLOW UP ON THIS POS, WHO UNFORTUNATLY, HAS NO IDEA OF HOW BAD HIS ACTIONS WERE TO THIS POOR ANIMAL!
I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS TO HIM WHEN HE TELL HIS CELL MATES WHAT HE DID TO A DOG!
I GUESS BUBBA WILL HAVE A NEW FRIEND FOR 6 MOS!
THERE ARE THREE THINGS THAT PRISONERS WILL NOT CONDONE.
1. RAPE
2. CHIL MOLESTATION
3. ANIMAL ABUSE (ooopps!)
PLEASE PLEASE tell me where I can send money to pay someone to torture this guy. Give the the address of the jail where he is and I will gladly contact someone to go there and pay him a visit.
We av ALL got to fight to get these animal laws changed
I think someone should pour a flammable liquid on him and burn him so he will know what it feels like. You can put the flame out, be he will carry the scars with him forever to remind him of what he did.
And what happened to the Judge being GOD in a court of law. He should be able to do anything to bring rightful justice due to the circumstance.
I wish I lived near by , then he would find the meaning of abuse
it sickened me how this guy could even look at that poor dog and then stand there and watch… it is so cruel. i agree that there should be bigger and better penelties for animal abuse. why does a dog's life have any less value then yours? yea if you can answer that then obviously you have a problem. we all have feelings, we all have hearts, we all need love and care and support so please… if you see or know someone who is abusing an animal, dont sit around and do nothing. DO something to save an animal.
O my god, how could anyone be so sick to do that to a dog, i would gladly wait out side for this guy and anyone else that has done animal cruelty like that, so i can seriously put them in the hospital or depending on how bad and gross it is, i will gladly ki** them as soon as they get out
I am a proud owner of a pitbull and he is the sweetest thing you will ever meet. I cant stand seeing articles and news about people abusing and fighting their pitbulls. This guy should be in there longer than 7 months and should be tortured to show him how that dog felt! It is all about how you raise your dog…..they are just like kids. Love and respect them. Why is that so hard?
That is just wrong.I would put him in jail,too. Pitbulls are loving pets.Why would he do such a thing.
Dear Deanna,
I FEEL THAT WHEN I READ THIS WEBSITE I FEEL THAT I SHOULD SAVE ALL THE DOG'S IN THE WORLD I AM 11 1/2 I LIVE IN MI DEARBORN I ALSO GO TO WOODWORTH MIDDAL SCHOOL ON TERNES
I HAVE 3 DOGS A GERMEN SHORT HAIR , A WESTIE (SCOTLAND) AND THE DOGS THAT GET HART THE MOST OF ALL PIT BULL A FEMALE HERNAME IS JULES (PIG)
LOVE ALWYS DOG LOVER
BRIANA MASON GOOD BY
i cant even stand to see a dog get a cut… how the heck does this guy sleep at night knowing what he had done… i hope he has night mares and better yet let bubba get em'
We cant believe someone would just set a dog on fire. What kind of sick twisted mind would do that to a poor dog.
how the heck can that guy just stand watch the pittbull be on fire and also stand there and hear it screaming, barking, and most of all crying i would punish him myself but for this GOD has control of this situation the dog was practically yelling and crying help me i dnt even want to imagine this.