This incident happened on Thanksgiving weekend, two weeks ago, in Cedar, which is located in the Nanaimo area of Vancouver Island. Apparently there was a hole in the fence and two dogs got loose and went onto the neighbour's property. It appears that there were chickens there. Lady was killed and the corpse was hung from a tree. The body was found by Lady's owner Bob Bell and his nine year old grandaughter. The story was covered by Nicholas Read in the Vancouver Sun. http://canada.com/search/story.aspx?id=490eca08-27c4-4890-a9e8-1fdb97dd6dcf

The local press has been informed of the story, but they have published not a word. As of today, no charges have been laid either by the police or the SPCA.

The fence could have been fixed by either party. It appears that both parties used it- either to try to keep the dogs in, or to keep the chickens in. I am aware that one can legally kill dogs if they are going after livestock, but only humanely. Beating a dog to death and hanging it from a tree is inhumane in the extreme.

I sent the following e-mail to the BC SPCA on October 27th.

Subject: Who is speaking for the dead dog? Sent to BC SPCA public relations person Lorie Chortyk lchortyk@spca.bc.ca

Hopefully the BC SPCA will speak loudly and clearly on the hung dog's behalf. That's the mandate of the BC SPCA of which I am a memebr.

As you know two dogs got loose on their neighbour's property locally and the neighbour beat them both and hung the cadaver of one from a tree. There has been no coverage in the local press, although they have been told all about it. No charges have been laid and the clock is ticking on.

What is the SPCA going to do about it? It seems to me that you have an excellent case against the person who did this nightmare deed. It could be argued that there could be police charges too.

For the sake of the animals and in memory of Lady, I hope that the SPCA will take some action. Somebody has to advocate for animals. This brutal, horrifying behaviour is not acceptable. Imagine the lifelong trauma for the 9 year-old girl who witnessed the dog hanging.

I have been reassured that the story will not be swept under the rug. I can see no reason to do that. I think there is a meeting coming up to decide what to do and I hope the Head Office will side with the dog and act together with our local shelter to make it abundantly clear that such behaviour is illegal and immoral and that it will not be tolerated by the leading animal welfare group.

Jean Martin