Two dogs were shot within three miles of each other in the last week or so in the Butte and dog owners say their pets have become shooting targets.
"Somebody on the trail shot my dog," Shawn Ivory, who lives in Butte and has five dogs, said. "I have no idea who did it. I know I don't want it to happen again. I know I don't want it to happen to anyone else's dog."
On Tuesday, Ivory came home from work and found what looked like a hole in the chest of her dog named Legs. The dog was having troubles breathing, so the next day Ivory took Legs to the North Star Animal Hospital and found out he had been shot with a pellet gun.
Danielle Warbington had the same thing happen to her dog Dixie about a week ago, when she was moving in to her new house in Butte. Her son was out riding his bike with Dixie when he told her Dixie wasn't moving.
"He came back and said, 'Dixie laid down and wouldn't come back,'" Warbington said. "Kill shots are generally behind the left front leg and that's where my dog was shot."
Both Danielle and Shawn say their dogs were near or on their property when they were shot, something animal control says hardly ever happens.
"That happens really rarely, maybe one percent of the time," Mat-Su Animal Control's Carol Vardeman said. "A lot of more dogs get let out in the summer time than they do in the winter time of course. If they're not attached to their person or they're not in a fenced area they're going to be in somebody else's property."
Mat-Su Animal Control says the dog shootings investigation with pellet guns remains ongoing.
"Somebody on the trail shot my dog," Shawn Ivory, who lives in Butte and has five dogs, said. "I have no idea who did it. I know I don't want it to happen again. I know I don't want it to happen to anyone else's dog."
On Tuesday, Ivory came home from work and found what looked like a hole in the chest of her dog named Legs. The dog was having troubles breathing, so the next day Ivory took Legs to the North Star Animal Hospital and found out he had been shot with a pellet gun.
Danielle Warbington had the same thing happen to her dog Dixie about a week ago, when she was moving in to her new house in Butte. Her son was out riding his bike with Dixie when he told her Dixie wasn't moving.
"He came back and said, 'Dixie laid down and wouldn't come back,'" Warbington said. "Kill shots are generally behind the left front leg and that's where my dog was shot."
Both Danielle and Shawn say their dogs were near or on their property when they were shot, something animal control says hardly ever happens.
"That happens really rarely, maybe one percent of the time," Mat-Su Animal Control's Carol Vardeman said. "A lot of more dogs get let out in the summer time than they do in the winter time of course. If they're not attached to their person or they're not in a fenced area they're going to be in somebody else's property."
Mat-Su Animal Control says the dog shootings investigation with pellet guns remains ongoing.
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