52-year-old Charles Frank Strother, from the small town of Wadley, is being held on $47,000 bond after turning himself in for shooting and dumping the 19 dogs.

Both Burke County, where the dogs were found, and Jefferson County, where Strother lives, lack animal control facilities.

Jane Stewart with the Atlanta based non-profit Georgia Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals says that’s a problem.

"We can’t afford not to have animal control in every county in Georgia. Maybe these counties have to band together and have one animal control facility for several of the smaller or more rural counties. There are ways that we can solve this."

Strother’s wife told the Augusta Chronicle she and her husband couldn’t afford to spay and neuter the dogs and that he only killed them after informing local police.

She says an officer told them it was okay to kill the animals because they posed a threat.

Wadley police wouldn’t comment on the matter.

Currently Strother has been charged with illegal dumping in Burke County.

Any animal cruelty charges would have to be prosecuted in Jefferson County where the shootings occurred.

Tags: Burke County, Wadley, animal cruelty, animal control, Jefferson County, Charles Frank Strother, Jane Stewart, Georgia Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals