[AnaClaire]

O.K. so I have a problem with my fiancee's mother. Recently I have come to find out she has committed serious animal cruelty. My fiancee's sister told me that a few months ago, her mom got very drunk and belligerent. Apparently she was complaining about their black lab named Patch and his old age and illnesses. But she is positive that it costs money to "put him down," so she is going to just do it herself. So in her drunken stupor, she gets their handgun, and shoots their "family dog" in the head several times in front of her 17 year old daughter(my fiancee's sister). I could not believe my ears. I was aghast when I heard this, and apparently my fiancee's sister buried their poor dog in their yard, and I'm sure you can imagine the sight. I still can't believe someone could shoot a dog they have had for at least 12 years. And in such a violent and painful way. WHY? I will never understand. Unfortunately, my fiancee is in the Marine Corps, does not live here, and is currently in Iraq for 7 months.

I have noticed animal cruelty behavior with my fiancee's mother before, such as whapping her OTHER dog(Bear) in the face when he is not wanted or "does something bad." I have myself seen her hit their dog in the face about twice, and I never go to their house. No telling what goes on when I am not there to visit. They also have several cats and a rabbit. I have such a dilemma with this issue. I told my fiancee, and he is just beside himself. But there is nothing he can do right now, because he wont even be back in the states until February of 2009. I don't know what to do. I feel like I should report her, let an official know, something!! In my opinion- she should not own animals of any kind!! I don't know what to do. I don't think that she knows *I* know. But this happened a few months ago, I wish I would have known immediately. I am not sure if its too late to let Animal Cruelty investigators know, and if I did, I'm sure she'd have a nice fine to pay, and perhaps jail time. But I am not sure how my fiancee and his family would feel about me taking it to that level. If it saves an animal, then I really don't care. If something did happen, I would just hate to have to testify against my future "mother-in-law." This seems to me like a delicate conundrum and I'm really not sure what to do. Can someone give me some advice? Thanks very much.