Waikato woman Sharna Saunders has accused her neighbour of shooting her two dogs Sadie and Mighty on Sunday, August 6 on her property in Ohinewai.
Waikato woman Sharna Saunders has accused her neighbour of shooting her two dogs Sadie and Mighty on Sunday, August 6 on her property in Ohinewai.
A Waikato woman has accused her neighbour of shooting her two dogs point-blank and killing them.
Sharna Saunders is traumatised after she found them stumbling about her backyard and watched them collapse.
“It’s horrible. I haven’t been able to sleep, not properly. I went back to work but I’ve had to take days off because of the trauma of losing them, they were like my children.”
Saunders’ two dogs, Sadie and Mighty, died on Sunday, August 6. A spokeswoman for police said they got a report two dogs had been “put down” at an address on Ohinewai North Rd in Ohinewai shortly after 10am.
The police spokeswoman said one person was helping police with their inquiries and an investigation into the incident was in progress.
Sharna Saunders says she hasn't been able to sleep properly since her two dogs were allegedly shot - she says she loved them like children.
Saunders told the Herald her neighbour admitted to the police he shot the dogs, apparently claiming he did so in self-defence as they attacked him on his property.
But Saunders doubted the man’s claims, questioning why he would have been armed the moment they allegedly attacked him, and adding how peaceful her dogs were.
She also questioned how Sadie and Mighty could have returned to her yard, injured before collapsing, if her neighbour had shot them on his property.
Her neighbour had complained to the council about the dogs barking before, she said. The Waikato District Council has been approached to confirm this.
“They [my dogs] would bark at him [the neighbour]. Dogs bark. But they’re not aggressive, they wouldn’t go to attack or anything like that.
“Besides, I didn’t hear them barking that morning [they died]. My other neighbours didn’t hear anything either.”
Sharna Saunders said she wished she could forget what she saw when her two dogs were allegedly shot.
Saunders detailed the incident to the Herald, saying it was a sight she wished she could forget.
“That [Sunday] morning, I let [the dogs] out and I closed the door because it was freezing. I started making mine and my kids’ breakfast and then when I opened the door my girl [Sadie] was leaning up against the back door.
“She was bleeding, her tongue hanging out, and she was just staring at me. There was blood coming from her mouth.
“I freaked out, she came inside, and then she just collapsed,” Saunders said.
She saw her other dog walking around and thought he must have been okay, but while she tended to Sadie her partner went outside to find the other dog was also dead on the back doorstep.
Saunders kept her children away from the scene, not wanting them to see: “It was something I wouldn’t wish on anyone.”
Sharna Saunders said her dogs were stumbling about her backyard before collapsing after they were allegedly shot.
Her partner then noticed what appeared as clean bullet wounds straight to the two dogs’ hearts.
“He said, ‘they’ve been shot’ so I grabbed my phone and I called the police. They came out and they had a quick look at the dogs and said they can’t have been shot from far because they wouldn’t have made it here.
“They [police officers] went to the neighbour’s house first and he admitted, well, this is what the police told me, that they asked him and he admitted it,” Saunders said.
“Then they said there’s nothing they can do because he claims that my dogs went to attack. I haven’t heard anything at all from the police since.”
The Royal New Zealand Society for the Protection of Animals’ (SPCA) inspectorate team lead, Jason Blair, said it appeared the incident hadn’t been reported to them.
“We strongly encourage anyone with information to contact NZ Police or SPCA,” he said.
“We are deeply saddened to hear this has occurred.”
