A Spring Hill woman will serve prison time after pleading no contest to charges that she shot her dogs more than 170 times with a high-powered pellet gun.
In April, an animal enforcement officer from the Hernando County Sheriff’s Office Animal Services Unit responded to a report that a woman was shooting her dogs with a BB gun at a residence on Hollyhock Lane in Spring Hill. At the scene, the dogs’ owner, Jamie Lynn Kujawa, told the officer that she did not own a BB gun and failed to produce proof of veterinary vaccination for the animals. When the officer examined the dogs, three of them showed signs of various injuries and scarring on their feet and paws. One of the dogs displayed a number of fresh puncture wounds to its paws and legs.
Subsequent checks on the dogs revealed that two of the dogs appeared to have fresh wounds on their feet and paws and that the animals avoided being touched. Kujawa surrendered those dogs to HCSO Animal Services in May.
During a subsequent examination by a local veterinarian, X-rays revealed that 61 BBs and 19 lead pellets were lodged in the feet, legs, torso and head of one dog. X-rays showed 71 BBs and 22 lead pellets lodged in the feet, legs, torso, and head of the second dog.
In May, deputies from the Hernando County Sheriff’s Office (HCSO) arrested Kujawa for aggravated cruelty. She subsequently pleaded no contest to the charges. On Sept. 21, she was sentenced to 60 months in prison and ordered to pay fines and court costs totaling $2663.83, according to Doll Stanley of the In Defense of Animals’ Justice for Animals Campaign.
