Texas woman shoots and abandons caged mother dog as puppies still try to suckle

A Texas woman told police that she shot her caged dog and left it on the side of the road with a litter puppies still trying to suckle because she was "agitated" with the animal.

Parker County deputies arrested 44-year-old Tammy Green Douglas Sunday on charges of cruelty to a nonlivestock animal after the news went out on social media that authorities were looking for a suspect in the shooting, according to the Star-Telegram.

Authorities said that Douglas told them that she shot her 4-year-old heeler/shepherd mix, Aowa, in the head near her home with a 9 mm handgun, and then left the body in a cage with the 10 newborn puppies on Raley Road.

"Aowa was discovered early Thursday morning, May 28, 2014, inside a cage with her puppies nursing her deceased body, partially in the roadway on Raley Road in Springtown," a statement from the Parker County Sheriff’s Office explained on Sunday.

“To a normal, caring human, this is an incomprehensible act,” Sheriff Larry Fowler noted. “I can’t imagine what the suspect thought theses puppies did in order to warrant her actions. Animal cruelty can never be justified.”

Douglas was released on $3,000 bond after being booked into the Parker County Jail.

The puppies were placed in the custody of Angels & Outlaws 2nd Chance Bully Ranch in Hico. Caretakers told KTVT that one of the puppies had died by Sunday afternoon.

Watch the video below from KTVT, broadcast June 1, 2014.