A Pennsylvania family is grieving the lack of their beloved dog after a hunter mistook the pooch for a coyote and fatally shot him.
Chris Heller was walking his two dogs within the woods near his house on Jan. 7 when his 8-year-old malamute mix Hunter was shot by a deer hunter, his wife Jennifer Heller said in an internet post.
Chris Heller rushed to get the pup to an emergency vet but he didn’t make the trip. Hunter died on the way in which, she said.
“Hunter was an incredibly sweet and intelligent dog — gentle with the Hellers’ young grandchildren, immediate best buddies with the opposite animals in the house, and a loving companion who would do anything for a superb piece of cheese,” Jennifer Heller wrote.
The Pennsylvania Game Commission, nonetheless, said the hunter won’t face any charges or disciplinary measures because he made a mistake, considering the beloved family pet was a coyote, in keeping with the Philadelphia Inquirer.
The Hellers want the commission to suspend the hunter’s hunting license and to make him retake a security course — or on the very least an apology from him for killing their dog, Jennifer Heller said.
“One of the necessary rules of hunting is to know what you’re shooting, and when this man shot despite that he snuffed out the lifetime of an exquisite pet who had rather a lot more life and like to share,” she wrote.
Jennifer Heller said her husband was walking Hunter, who the family had adopted from a Recent Jersey shelter, and their German shepherd, Freya, on a cleared path through the woods and alerted the group of deer hunters of their presence.
Each dogs were wearing collars and harnesses and Hunter is sort of 3 times the scale of a coyote, she added.
She said the hunter who killed the family pouch never apologized and refuses to return forward out of fear of social media backlash.
The family now plans to take legal motion and has met with an attorney. They’ve launched a GoFundMe to cover legal fees.
“Hunter might be so greatly missed and was loved by our entire family. RIP our beautiful friend,” Jennifer Heller wrote.
The malamute’s shooting death shouldn’t be the primary time a hunter has killed a domesticated dog, mistaking it for a wild animal.
In November, a Montana woman was charged with animal cruelty after she shot and skinned a Siberian husky puppy, considering it was a wolf. The lady sparked outrage after she posted photos of the skinned animal on social media.