The alleged K9 coverup in Savannah, Missouri. Now, the K9 handler, Sgt. Daniel Zeigler fired after last night’s city council meeting. It was just days ago that the Missouri Attorney General’s office charged Zeigler with animal abuse – a Class A misdemeanor which means at most? A year in prison and $2,000 in fines. Now that he’s been terminated, he reportedly has two weeks to fight it.
But back to K9 Horus. He was allegedly left in his handler’s vehicle at the end of his shift by Zeigler and then Zeigler reportedly discovered Horus more than 12 hours later dead in the hot ca. And also, according to the investigation by the Missouri Highway Patrol? The system in the car which monitors temperature and then opens the windows and honks the horn if it gets too hot in the car, that backup system, the investigation revealed had been turned off.
Back to the date of June 20th, the day Horus died, a neighbor describes Zeigler as flipping out after discovering Horus. He called the chief. The chief came over and then Zeigler, the chief, and another person then reportedly took Horus from the house to some city-owned land, dug a hole, and put Horus in the ground. No one initially said a word to the community.
Several days later, the chief announced the news saying Horus died as a result of complications from being left in a car after an overnight shift. Zeigler was put on paid administrative leave 11 days later.
But let’s go back to how all this transpired as far as getting the word out to the public. Animal advocates. A group of animal advocates say they had to fight to get the information that Horus was even dead. Then fight to find out the location of the hole. Then they made a makeshift memorial. Then they got someone to anonymously donate a headstone for Horus.
And then on Saturday? A service for K9 Horus. All of that had to be done by the animal advocates or it would not have happened at all. Though at last night’s city council meeting- a very contentious meeting I might add – West Ward Alderman Kevin Schneider telling constituents they had a plan in place for all of this. That they were going to put out the information about Horus’ death but didn’t do it right away because there was a concern for Sgt. Zeigler’s mental health. That there was nothing nefarious happening by them putting the information out right away – they were just in shock – they said – like everyone else.
Schneider later going on to say most of the things that occurred since that day have been part of the plan since the beginning. Animal advocates calling them out on that. Back and forth. And I want you to listen to Melissa Wheeler. Animal advocate. She lives in Savannah.
Because again, Schneider says – there was nothing nefarious going on – that they had this planned out the entire time. Animal advocates there? Shocked. They couldn’t believe what they were hearing. Then council went into a closed-door meeting and the next thing we know? Zeigler’s been terminated.
Even with the termination though – animal advocates say – this is just the beginning.
