A Cape Breton man says his family is devastated after two of their dogs were found shot and dumped off a rural road in Reserve Mines.
"It's tough on the kids and my wife," Don McVicar told CBC News on Friday.
"We're animal lovers and we had four dogs and a guinea pig and it's just crazy."
McVicar said two of his dogs slipped past him last week as he opened the door to put on their chains. He said at first he wasn't worried when the dogs took off because they'd run off before — and always came home.
Instead, Cape Breton Regional Police Const. Greg Sophocleous discovered the dead dogs on Wednesday while he was investigating an illegal dumping site.
Sophocleous said the dogs were found in the woods near a dirt road, along with a box spring, a mattress and a bed.
"In behind the box spring and mattress was the two dead domestic animals, the dogs," said Sophocleous.
"You have people walking these wooded trail roads and children and whatnot and it would be a startling sight for some child to come upon."
Police said the animals had been shot with a small-calibre weapon.
Both of the dogs — a Labrador mix named Kale and a beagle mix named Gizmo — had collars and were quickly identified as being family pets.
In the meantime, McVicar had posted pictures of his dogs on the Nova Scotia Lost Dog Network, a website devoted to reuniting lost pets with their owners.
The police and the SPCA linked the dogs and McVicar through the site.
"When he called and told me what happened, it was devastating," he said.
"Especially the one dog who was my son's dog, and he passed away last year, so that dog really had a lot of sentimental value to us."
Cape Breton Regional Police Staff Sgt. Stephen MacKinnon said police have launched an investigation.
"It's something that's not a routine matter for us. Over the last number of years, I can't recall any instances of that nature," he said Friday.
McVicar said he doesn't believe his dogs caused problems for anyone.
"They were the friendliest dogs. They didn't bark, they'd just run up and lick you and they were great dogs. There was never a problem," he said.
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