bugger

noun, slang and colloquial, used familiarly or playfully to express affection, compassion, etc.: a person or (occasionally) an animal. Chiefly with modifying adjective as little, lazy, poor, silly, etc. (“bugger, n.1” OED)

“There was eight hundred dollars, and the poor bugger died paying it off. He was paying it off, and he died.”

“This year, we’ve got flies and them crawling dang things.”
“Oh they disappear. The little buggers.”

“They had leather bridles and that, and then Tom had a team, Prince and Queen. Oh Queen, she was a mean old bugger.”