ohmidog!

A Georgia man says a visit from a census worker led to the death of his two-year-old Chihuahua, Sofie.

Charles Oliver said a worker from the U.S. Census Bureau pulled into his driveway at his home in Byron Tuesday, crushing his dog.

Oliver said he had not returned census forms sent to his home this year.

“They know I’m here,” he told the  Macon Telegraph. “Why do they even need a census? Let me not pay my taxes. They’ll be here.”

Oliver said the census worker, whom he described as an older, heavyset man driving a newer model sport utility vehicle with a Vietnam Veteran tag, didn’t apologize after both men spotted Sofie in the driveway. He took Oliver’s information and left.

Sofie was normally kept inside, but was in the yard because Oliver was outside working in his garage, he said.

During the 2000 Census, 13 workers died during visits to collect information from people who had not responded to the mail-in form, including one who was mauled to death by a dog, census officials say.

Ed Davis, spokesman for the U.S. Census bureau’s Atlanta office, said the bureau had received no report about the dog’s death.

“We take very seriously the public safety and personal safety of our workers,” Davis said. “Unfortunately, things happen when we have hundreds of thousands of people in the field.”

The Peach County Sheriff’s Office took a report about the incident, but no charges are expected to be filed against the unknown census worker.

(Photo: Beau Cabell / Macon Telegraph)