Veterans who suffer with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) have found that having a dog by their side helps them deal with the mental illness. People suffering from PTSD can have symptoms like anxiety, anger, fear, and other emotions negatively impacting their day-to-day life. Canines are able to provide comfort in public or wake the person up in the middle of a nightmare. American’s VetDogs pairs approximately 70 dogs with vets suffering with PTSD every year in addition to other organizations working towards the same goal.The 23-year-old joined the Army in 2014 according to a spokesperson from the Army Human Resources Command at Fort Knox in Kentucky.
By January 2017, Rollins was retired from the Army due to medical conditions.
Camboui or Cam as she referred to him was gifted to help her deal with PTSD symptoms.
He was originally named Huey. In December 2016, the shelter posted a photo of Cam with the caption “Please someone show this boy what a real loving forever home is. He is super-friendly, very sweet, calm and loving. He just wants someone to love him and give him a chance.”
While together, Rollin’s husband said the canine followed him everywhere and even slept in the couple’s bed. When Rollins’ husband found out he was being assigned to go to South Korea, his ex begged him to let her keep Cam.
By April, the 23-year-old began to look for a home for Cam stating he was too expensive to care for.
Her post didn’t specify that Cam had been adopted but she wrote that her pup would be “much happier where he is heading off to.”
Her boyfriend Jarren Heng replied to Rollins’ post.
The 26-year-old is also in the Army.
Although Bockholt declined to say what unit Heng was specifically in.
“PTSD is a lot like deafness. It is an invisible disability,” said Ken Kirsch, the service dog training director and developer of the PTSD program for America’s VetDogs. “The purpose of the service dogs is to mitigate the disability, so that the person can live a normal or near normal life.”
“Oxytocin improves trust, the ability to interpret facial expressions, the overcoming of paranoia and other pro-social effects—the opposite of PTSD symptoms,” Meg Daley Olmert from the program Warrior Canine Connection, said.
The canine was tied to a tree where the couple took turns posing with him.
She took a couple more shots towards the pup afterwards.
Heng shot Cam an additional five more times.
In the video, Rollins speaks to a dead Cam as she places him in the grave.
“Kind of put him a little deeper in there,” Heng tells her in the video.
The couple has been arrested and charged with cruelty to animals and conspiracy.
Rollins’ bail was set for $10,000.
Both Rollins and Heng’s bails were increased to $25,000 each.
Investigators from the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office found various videos of the shooting.
“We will work diligently to seek justice in this case,” District Attorney Billy West said. “What we do know about the case is disturbing.”
A Facebook page “Justice for Cam” was started in honour of the canine.
The Facebook page has uploaded the video of the shooting, with many criticizing that decision.
“You do not have to click play and watch it but let me clarify something. Marinna Rollins is trying to claim that the dog was sick and suffering and that she did this out of Mercy,” the moderator argues. “The video has been shared, to prove otherwise, because we don’t want her to get off easy for the crime she committed. This was clearly not mercy.”
