Dog gunned down at Swakop

ANIMAL lovers at the coast are up in arms over a dog that was shot dead in the Vineta neighbourhood of Swakopmund on Friday.

A Rottweiler belonging to the Ely family was shot twice by their next-door neighbour in Woker Street. “I could not believe he did it,” Ethel Ely told The Namibian yesterday.Rusty, the dog belonged to her son who had had him for seven years.She said since the story was reported in the local newspaper on Tuesday, her phone had not stopped ringing.”People are even calling from Walvis Bay saying they would love to organise a demonstration in front of the neighbour’s house.”Petra Sada of the SPCA at Swakopmund said she went to look at the dog, but there was not much she could do.”All I can say is we do not need cowboys around here.What if one of the bullets had ricocheted and hit a child?” she remarked.According to Ely, the neighbour across the street and his two small children saw everything that happened.”It was traumatic for the children to see the dog shot dead,” said Ely.The children brought her flowers the next day when they buried Rusty in their backyard where he used to dig in the sand.According to Ely, nobody was at home on Friday and the dog got outside the yard when the wind blew the gate open.”The wind was howling and when I returned from work I saw what had happened.”She said she saw the dog coming down the street and quickly went inside to wash her hands from struggling with the gate.”I left the front door open and saw the neighbour walking past with his hands in his pockets.The next moment I heard two shots.I ran outside and saw the neighbour walking back to his house and Rusty limping off and falling down two houses from us.”Ely said the dog was shot in the ribs and the head and was bleeding terribly.”I asked the neighbour to put him out of his misery, but he just replied ‘he is going to die anyway’.”She said the neighbour told her the dog had attacked him two weeks earlier, but when the Police arrived, he claimed he had shot the dog out of self defence as he was being attacked.”There were no marks or wounds on him and the neighbour across the street who saw everything said the dog did not attack him.He said he was on his way to the beach and always carried a gun for self protection.”Ely said they had lived in that neighbourhood for more than 20 years and had never had any hassles before.”Rusty never attacked anyone,” she said.The Police confirmed yesterday that a case of unlawfully discharging a firearm in a Municipal area was being investigated.The docket will be presented to the prosecutor at the Magistrate’s Court to decide whether the man should be charged.”I could not believe he did it,” Ethel Ely told The Namibian yesterday.Rusty, the dog belonged to her son who had had him for seven years.She said since the story was reported in the local newspaper on Tuesday, her phone had not stopped ringing.”People are even calling from Walvis Bay saying they would love to organise a demonstration in front of the neighbour’s house.”Petra Sada of the SPCA at Swakopmund said she went to look at the dog, but there was not much she could do.”All I can say is we do not need cowboys around here.What if one of the bullets had ricocheted and hit a child?” she remarked.According to Ely, the neighbour across the street and his two small children saw everything that happened.”It was traumatic for the children to see the dog shot dead,” said Ely.The children brought her flowers the next day when they buried Rusty in their backyard where he used to dig in the sand.According to Ely, nobody was at home on Friday and the dog got outside the yard when the wind blew the gate open.”The wind was howling and when I returned from work I saw what had happened.”She said she saw the dog coming down the street and quickly went inside to wash her hands from struggling with the gate.”I left the front door open and saw the neighbour walking past with his hands in his pockets.The next moment I heard two shots.I ran outside and saw the neighbour walking back to his house and Rusty limping off and falling down two houses from us.”Ely said the dog was shot in the ribs and the head and was bleeding terribly.”I asked the neighbour to put him out of his misery, but he just replied ‘he is going to die anyway’.”She said the neighbour told her the dog had attacked him two weeks earlier, but when the Police arrived, he claimed he had shot the dog out of self defence as he was being attacked.”There were no marks or wounds on him and the neighbour across the street who saw everything said the dog did not attack him.He said he was on his way to the beach and always carried a gun for self protection.”Ely said they had lived in that neighbourhood for more than 20 years and had never had any hassles before.”Rusty never attacked anyone,” she said.The Police confirmed yesterday that a case of unlawfully discharging a firearm in a Municipal area was being investigated.The docket will be presented to the prosecutor at the Magistrate’s Court to decide whether the man should be charged.