Forrest’s life has a taken a 180 degree turn since the day in December when he was taken to the park, tied to a tree, and shot.  Now, the handsome bull mastiff will be the star of the show at a benefit being held by the Ohio Public Animal Welfare Society (PAWS).
Forrest’s story began on November 25th when Raymone Clements brutally shot his dog several times and left him to die in the middle of a park. Â A dog walker discovered the injured pooch the next day and saved his life by taking him to a nearby animal hospital and then turning him over to PAWS. Â When his story got out, many families applied to adopt Forrest, and Robin Stone considers herself fortunate to have been chosen as his new person.
Stone is an animal rights activist and is working with PAWS to increase awareness of the these types of crimes in the hopes of getting a bill passed that would make similar acts felonies.  Asked about Forrest’s Facebook page, “First, we felt we needed a forum to keep a potentially large audience informed about his care, updates and events related to his case and also to gain as much support from animal lovers and advocates so we could begin to plan to put forth a comprehensive bill in Ohio,” she said. “We decided early on that we would band together with PAWS Ohio to gain support for animal cruelty law reform and Forrest is already the catalyst.”
Clements was charged with two misdemeanors for having ammunition, but as Stone says “If animal cruelty were a felony in Ohio, we wouldn’t need the ammunitions charge.” Â As for Forrest, he is settling in to his new life on Stone’s 10 acre property and is getting to know the other animals she already has. Â He is recovering slowly from his injuries but is happy and taking it easy for the time being.
