Family pet dog shot dead in Eaton Bray

Posted on April 17, 2008

A family pet which strayed onto a farm in Eaton Bray has been shot dead by an irate farmer, prompting her devastated owners to dub the killing "callous".

The 14-month-old whipppet named Chica was killed after she wandered into New Cloud Farm in The Rye on Thursday.

This week police said that the shooting was legal, as the dog was said to have been worrying livestock, a fact her owners Martin and Barbra Surman dispute.

They described Chica as "one of the family", and said that they have had to lie to their children about how their pet died.

Barbra said: "This is the most horrifying thing I've ever had to deal with. If your dog had been poorly or even run over you could cope with it, you could say it's sad but it's done.

"But when it's an incident like how he's killed her, it's the worst thing I've ever had to deal with. She was a member of the family."

And a devastated Martin added: "I just can't believe it, I can't get my head round it at all. It's just a senseless waste of a life.

"The noise of that shotgun must have worried the sheep more than my dog can have."

Martin was outside the farm when Chica ran off, and he said he was taken aback when he heard the shotgun fired.

For the full story, see this week's edition of the Dunstable Gazette.

See also: Dog shot dead for the sake of worried sheep - follow up article, 25 April 2008.

For the latest news from Eaton Bray and beyond, get the Dunstable Gazette every Wednesday and make a daily date with Dunstable Today.

Source: Dunstable Gazette, 16 April 2008