ohmidog!

An Oklahoma high school student who posted a photo on Facebook of a pit bull shot dead with an arrow has been forced to flee his home after receiving death  threats.

The image shows a dark-colored pit bull dead in a field with a pink arrow sticking out from his side.

“For all you Pit lovers out there. Here’s what happens when one shows up around my house,” read the post on the Facebook page of Caisen Green, 18.

Cherokee County Undersheriff Jason Chennault said the picture on the Sequoyah High School student’s Facebook page, came to his attention Saturday morning.

Chennault said that when he went to speak with Green he was told by his father that both Caisen and his mother had left the county due to death threats the teenager received.

“I understand people don’t want to see animals hurt,” Chennault said. “But death threats are not going to help the situation.”

Chennault said he planned to continue investigating.

But even if Green did kill the dog it might not necessarily be a crime, he noted.

“It’s a gray area,” Chennault told the Muskogee Phoenix. “If the dog is threatening livestock or your well-being, you can do what you have to do stop it. I’m going to do my best to get everything done this week, and we’ll forward the report to the District Attorney’s Office.”

Facebook users and others outraged by the post began sharing and writing about it shortly after it was posted, with many urging an investigation take place.

Lu Hayes, a volunteer with the Cherokee County Humane Society, said she first saw the picture last Thursday, and began sending it to different animal advocacy groups.

“A girl sent the picture to me, saying she wanted to report animal cruelty,” Hayes said.

“I started messaging (Green) and at first he acted like it wasn’t a big deal, like, ‘So what.’

“But I guess as it started getting spread around, and more people became aware of it, he changed his tune.”

Hayes said she’d like to see the district attorney’s office prosecute Green, who took the offending picture off his Facebook page after anger over it mounted.

(Photos: Caisen Green’s Facebook page)

(An update to this story can be found here.)