Andrew Robinson
Found dead shortly after Main Brook family received dog
Earlier this week, Élaine Pinard gave a two-year-old Siberian Husky to a family living in Main Brook.
“I put him aboard their truck (on Sunday), and the kids were all happy. I think I did the best for the dog and the family.”
Unfortunately, the dog’s stay with the family was not a long one. A day after its arrival in Main Brook, the dog managed to escape from a chain and scamper into the woods. The family later found it dead in the woods.
A two-year-old dog Élaine Pinard recently gave to a family in Main Brook, not unlike the one pictured above, was found dead in the woods Monday. — Submitted photos
“Somebody shot him,” said Pinard.
The family did not see anyone in the area at that time, leaving the circumstances surrounding the dog’s death uncertain.
“(The mother) had to send her two kids to school crying because they loved that dog,” said Pinard, who lives a four-hour drive away from Main Brook in Wiltondale. “That was the worst.”
According to Pinard, who moved with her dogs to Newfoundland nine years ago and is an avid dogsledder, Siberian Huskies are not commonly found on the island.
“Nobody is really aware of Siberian Huskies or dogsledding no more, and it’s been hard to bring back the tradition here. People are thinking those dogs are aggressive or whatever, but I’ve been selling puppies for nine years here, and I’ve got 600 customers who are very happy. They come back and they buy dogs from me.”
Her dogs produce anywhere from 20 to 30 puppies annually.
The dog that was shot was wearing a red collar and would have weighed between 65 and 70 pounds, which makes it all the more surprising to Pinard that someone would shoot it.
“He has a pink nose. There’s no wolves with a pink nose. If they had a 12-gauge (shotgun), they would have seen that, because you’ve got to shoot close range.”
If the person had used a rifle, Pinard suspects the shot would have come from a longer distance, increasing the likelihood the shooter could have mistaken the dog for a wild animal.
“My dog didn’t look like a wolf or a coyote,” she said, adding that a wolf would have been twice the size of the Siberian Husky.
“I’d like to find out who did it, because that’s a sin. That’s dangerous. Those kids could have been with that dog.”
According to Pinard, the family has contacted the local RCMP detachment and wildlife officials.