Dog found alive in grave

Press, 10 January 1986, Page 1

Dog found alive in grave

Greymouth reporter A dog, its jaw broken by a 22 bullet, was found buried alive in the Aorangi Reserve near Greymouth on Sunday. Mr John Moore, a Greymouth veterinarian, said a “botched” attempt had been made to destroy the four-month-old Labrador cross. He said the dog may have been knocked unconscious by the shot, leading the shooter to assume it was dead before burying it in a shallow grave. "I am not trying to mitigate the action. That could have been the case, but it was still dreadful,” Mr Moore told “The Press” yesterday. A woman jogging through the reserve heard muffled sounds and saw a piece of the ground moving. She uncovered the dog, which had revived. It was taken to Mr Moore’s veterinary clinic, where it was decided the only humane thing to do was to put the dog down. People tired of dogs, had other alternatives, said Mr Moore. The S.P.C.A. would have provided a temporary home, as would his clinic. As a last resort, there were also more humane ways to put down unwanted animals, he added. Senior-Sergeant John Schouten of the Greymouth police said the incident had been investigated, but nothing further could be done. The.person who had shot) the dog had apparently as-' sumed the animal was dead, and had buried it. “We have no evidence that showed there was intent to cause cruelty,” he said. - ■ ■•- ' - A correctly applied shot was acceptable. “If the dog had been hit over the head with a hammer or something like that, it would have been different”