There is heartbreak for both parties involved in a dog’s death in Parksville.
The dog was shot and killed after attacking some chickens Saturday near a popular path for dog owners who let their pets run off-leash.
“Heartbroken. Basically, that’s what I told him, I’m heartbroken,” said Carole Adley, who owned a two-year-old whippet named Tebbers.
On Saturday Tebbers got off course near the Greig Road path and was shot and killed while attacking a chicken on a nearby private property.
“We heard gunshots which alarmed me because you never hear gunshots and so we started calling our dogs and two of them didn’t come,” said Adley, who was walking with a friend.
They went and found Carol’s whippet dead after being shot twice. The other dog was unharmed.
“I thought it was a little hasty and a little overdone to actually kill a dog because he’s right next to the park where everybody is walking their dog,” said Adley.
Adley filed a report with RCMP who investigated and said the property owner was acting within his rights under the Livestock Act. Police have concluded their file.
The property’s owner says in December another dog attacked their chickens, killing 18 of them. It left his girlfriend who cares for the chickens devastated.
“I wish these dog owners are responsible for their pets because they love their dogs as I love my chickens,” said Nellie Grafe, the chicken’s owner.
There was also a second dog attack before this third one this past weekend.
“He probably was thinking ‘I’ll get this one at least.’ So my little dog was partly paying the bill for the previous 18 dead chickens,” said Adley.
The property owner who just moved the property in recent months says he’d been waiting on fencing supplies which arrived just before the latest attack. He and a neighbour are working on putting up a fence to protect the property.
“The owner that shot the dog. He’s ripped right up about it. I feel bad for him and I feel bad for the lady that lost her dog because that’s terrible to lose your family pet,” said Quentin Koop, a neighbour.
Both sides say they’re sad Tebbers the whippet is now dead and both say awareness is positive if it helps to prevent another tragedy.
Last year a chicken owner in Nanaimo was devastated after a neighbour’s dog attacked and killed 28 of her showgirl chickens.
Kendall Hanson
