The following is a news item from the Times Colonist. It speaks volumes of people who "hunt".
RCMP probe shooting of dog that was a gift to boy recovering from cancer
Joanne Hatherly, Times Colonist
Published: Tuesday, September 16, 2008
A puppy, bought for a boy recovering from cancer, has been shot and killed amid circumstances that have sparked a police investigation.
Nick Rose and his 12-year-old son Max were working on their firewood pile at Quadra Island on Saturday, while Max's Jack Russell terrier puppy, Seymour, played in the front yard. Two men in hunting vests and carrying shotguns walked past their property.
The puppy approached the two men.
Rose said he recognized one as a man who had invaded his home during his birthday party four years earlier, assaulting both Rose and several of his guests.
Rose called the puppy, but did not leave his property to retrieve the dog. "I didn't want to be dealing with this person," Rose said. "I was afraid."
The puppy followed the men, who continued walking a short distance.
While a bush blocked them from Rose's view, he and his son heard a single gunshot.
"I ran around the bush to find, to my horror and shock, our 16-week-old terrier, he was quivering in death throes and his head partly blown off," Rose said. "My children were screaming and crying. My daughter threw up. It was horrible."
Rose shouted at the men, who fled to a nearby residence that is owned by the parents of one of them.
Max was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumour when he was seven, the effects of which he still feels today, his father said. "He had to learn how to breathe, how to walk again. He suffered much. The sad part is this puppy was a replacement for a dog he lost during treatment," Rose said. "This was a particularly sweet puppy."
RCMP are looking for the two men to question them.
Quadra Island RCMP Cpl. Craig Peterson said one of them phoned him, but has not turned himself in.
"He was aware we were looking for him," Peterson said.
The RCMP is issuing an arrest warrant for the suspected shooter, who lives in Greater Victoria. They are not releasing his name, pending a request to Crown counsel for a charge of dangerous use of a firearm and endangering an animal.
Peterson said the area where the shooting happened is partially wooded, but it is a residential district.
The RCMP confiscated more than 20 firearms in connection with the investigation. Peterson said all the weapons are legal and all are hunting guns. He would not say where the fireams were seized.
© Times Colonist (Victoria) 2008