THE owner of a much-loved companion is mourning his dog’s death this week after finding it shot late Friday night.
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Doug Thompson of Delegate said he was distraught when he learnt of Tiny’s death, allegedly at the hands of a disgruntled local.
Police are investigating the dog’s death and are keen to hear from any Delegate residents who may have heard gunshot/s on Friday night or seen anything that may assist officers with their inquiries.
Mr Thompson said about 6pm Friday he let Tiny out for his usual toilet break and didn’t think much more about it when the blue heeler didn’t return straight away.
“He’s known to wander a little, but he’s a friendly dog and great with kids,” Mr Thompson said.
“About 8pm my brother rings me to say he’d had a call saying if you don’t come around to pick up your dog it’ll get shot.” [While the police carry out their investigation, the Bombala Times has chosen not to publish who Mr Thompson said made this alleged call.]
“Later, my Uncle John was driving home and found Tiny in the middle of the road, dead,” an emotional Mr Thompson said.
He said he rang the police and later tracked a trail of blood that led from Tiny’s body to the home of the man who had allegedly called his brother to make the threat.
“I asked him if he’d heard a gunshot. He said ‘I didn’t hear a gunshot, but I hit him with a shovel to get him off my yard’,” Mr Thompson said.
Bombala policeman Constable Steven Gay said while an autopsy was being carried out to confirm the cause of Tiny’s death, it did appear a gunshot was a possibility.
“No-one heard a gunshot and there are no witnesses to say it was a gun involved, but at this stage we do believe the dog was shot,” Constable Gay said on Monday.
If that is the case, the seriousness of a firearm being discharged in town is a matter the police are looking into closely.
An autopsy carried out on Monday found injuries consistent with a gunshot, but failed to find the actual bullet.
However, after Mr Thompson took his dog home, he ran a metal detector over Tiny’s body and picked up readings close to his hip.
There were plans to take the body back to the vet to have it removed and handed over to police this week.
“Police are asking for anyone who may have heard a gunshot around 9pm Friday night, or saw something that could help police with our investigation, to call the Bombala Police Station, or Queanbeyan Police.”
Adding to Mr Thompson’s distress is what he said was an unacceptable delay between his initial call to police around 10pm Friday night, to an officer attending to take his statement – about 6pm Saturday.
Constable Gay said Bombala is a one-unit station and his shift had finished at 5pm Friday. He then wasn’t back on duty until 5pm Saturday.
“We are a remote, rural area, so no-one was on duty at the time and phone calls went through to Queanbeyan,” Constable Gay said.
Then, after returning to the station Saturday afternoon, being an incident with possible firearms involved, Constable Gay had to wait for a second officer to arrive before attending to take statements.