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Owner grieves over shot dogs
Published 10:59am Thursday, November 29, 2012Two dogs were found shot and killed about a mile away from their home near Ten Mile Lake Tuesday morning.
Owner Natalie Rund said she always had them chained up or kept a close eye on them when she was outside, but they disappeared on her Monday afternoon.
“I called and looked for them, but I couldn’t find them,” she said. “I drove around a little bit, but I still couldn’t find them. When I got up (Tuesday) morning, they still weren’t home.”
Rund called the Otter Tail County Humane Society at about 8 a.m. and left a message because it didn’t open until 10 a.m.
“At about 11:30 (a.m. Tuesday), my mom came to my house, and a friend of the family had been driving on the county line and saw them in the ditch,” she said. “When my mom told me, I didn’t want to believe it. My mom and I went over there. I hoped it wasn’t them, but they definitely were.”
Rund found Jake, a 6-year-old lab cross, and Levi, a 5-year-old springer spaniel, shot and killed about 20 feet away from each other in the ditch about a mile south of her house.
“I thought about it throughout the day and decided to call the sheriff’s office (Tuesday) afternoon,” she said. “There were no houses around or anything they could have been getting into.”
Both dogs had collars and proper identification, and nobody lived around the area where they were found.
“I didn’t want to believe it until I saw them, and then I just felt bad. Like maybe I should have looked for them harder or something,” Rund said. “I don’t think I could have done anything else. I just feel so bad because they were so innocent.”
Cowardly and reprehensible. It does not sound like these dogs were a threat to anyone. Give the owner a chance to round them up. Especially if the dogs were wearing tags.
I feel so bad for you- just know there are pet owners reading this that are outraged. What a senseless act!
first of all ,lets get some facts out here before ya’ll git your panties in a bunch.these dogs have a long history of running and doing damage,i had reports of seeing them as far away as 3-4 miles???i asked around to see if could find out where they belonged to inform the owner as to the damage they were doing,but could not and it should not be my job to do so. its pretty disgusting to have 6 months of work be destroyed by these dogs or to to try to make a nice place for your kids to hunt only to have these dogs run under your deer stand about 30 mph. i am sure chasing deer.no these dogs were not innocent by any means,it just doenst work to have 2 dogs,they run..ever try to to read a tag on a dog doin 30???i dont know who shot them but i am sure there was a very good reason.
Really C Mickelson? You didn’t shoot them but you sure do seem to know an awful lot about them? If they were that bad and that destructive, why – pray tell – didn’t you complain to the proper authorities? Did you ever complain to their owner? Or even try to find out who their owner was when they were destroying all your stuff?
I’m willing to bet you didn’t and I’m willing to bet you know far more about what happened to these dogs than your copping to here.
Furthermore, I think you better look up Minn Stat. 343.20 et seq which clearly states:
“Animal Cruelty is defined as: “No person shall overdrive, overload, torture, cruelly beat, neglect, or unjustifiably injure, maim, mutilate, or kill any animal…” punishable by a $700 fine and 90 incarceration for the first offense.
But I do want to thank you for posting as I will be bringing your post to the attention of the Humane Society and any other authority figures who may be interested.
The owner “…always had them chained up or kept a close eye on them…” Clearly they were not trained to stay in a given area or respond to voice commands. They should have been on a tethered run or enclosed in a fenced area. When dogs run free, it always ends badly. They either chase wildlife/livestock, cross roadways, become lost and then starve, or encounter other dogs that are aggressive. I feel sad for the owner, but MN DNR views loose dogs as “a people problem”.