Unhappy with response to dog killing
Editor,
Late Thursday night (Feb. 9) my family dog was shot and killed for no apparent reason. My mother found her the next morning after she noticed she was missing and our other dog was acting strange.
She was lying south of our driveway off on the side of the road covered in blood with what looked to be bullet wounds.
After confirming with the vet that she had been shot in the chest, we talked with the police because we found that two our neighbor's horses had been shot, one resulting in death. When my mother and I talked with an officer, I asked him if they had questioned anybody living on our road and if they found anything about who did it.
Well, if the police had actually talked with some of the surrounding neighbors, then why didn't my family know anything about it until we found our dog dead? Obviously the police didn't question every neighbor about the horses because they don't care.
I'm writing this letter because I'm angry at the police because all they did when we told them about our dog was ask us irrelevant questions about what kind of dog she was and how old she was. The fact of the matter is that our dog was shot, murdered for no reason that we are aware of.
The officer didn't even tell us that they would do and talk with some of the neighbors to possibly see if anybody had heard gunshots or seen anything out of the ordinary. The officer asked us to let them know if we found out anything. Shouldn't it be the other way around?
I feel what the police should be doing is what my family has to do on our own without any law enforcement help. Two horses were shot, one resulting in death, and now my family dog is dead because of a bullet through her chest.
We live in an area of wooded, mountain land and I, among others, take walks there. What happens if another animal —or a person — is shot? Will the police do their job? The officer told us because the horses were shot with a shotgun, there isn't a way to trace it or do anything about about it. Hypothetically, what if a person was shot with a shotgun? It would just be a cold case? The police would tell the dead person's family that we are sorry, but we can't do anything to solve this murder? I sure feels like that's what they're saying.
I have lived there for 26 years and I hear gunshots all the time, but this time those gunshots killed my dog. Crimes have been committed and the law isn't doing anything about it. Yet if an actual white human being was shot and murdered and left for dead on the side of the road, there would be a full investigation with a CSI team doing their job.
But because it was "just a dog" the law doesn't care. Well, guess what. My family cares and we want answers to why we found our dog shot. Many people have pets, but those pets are members of the family. So why can't they have the same treatment as a human?
Montana has anti-cruelty statutes for animals, so why do I have to express the faults of our local law? There are faults in our local justice system because our police officers care more about giving out speeding tickets.
Heather Dobson
Polson