Eventer Flora Harris is appealing for information after her dog was shot and killed on her property last week.
The rider was in France competing at Fontainbleau horse trials when the incident happened on Thursday 19 March.
Flora is based in Woodland St Mary, near Lambourn in Berkshire, and the dog had been in a field, just outside of her garden.
“I’d left my two dogs at home with a friend who was housesitting for me,” Flora told H&H.
“He also has a dog and let all three of them out at 8.30pm. Mine are both whippets and hate the cold so they are always out and then in again very quickly. But two dogs came back and the other didn’t.”
Willow, a four-year-old whippet, did not return that evening.
“He went out several times that night but couldn’t find her, so decided to check again the next morning in case she’d just run off for a while,” added Flora.
“But when he went outside the next morning he found her dead. She had been shot in the head. It was literally at the end of our garden. There would be no reason for anyone to be on that land.”
The police were contacted and a vet was called. The dog’s skull was x-rayed but no shrapnel was found. There was an exit wound and Flora believes that a .22 rifle was used.
“You’d need a firearms licence to have a rifle like that,” she added. “I just want to know what has happened. Someone has shot my dog, she was my pet, and I want someone to be held responsible.”
Flora added that lamping and rabbiting does occur in the area.
Last October H&H reported on a Shetland pony in Cornwall who lost an eye after being shot. The owner suspected rabbit hunters were the culprits and urged for them to take more care.
Anyone with any information should contact Berkshire police, or contact Flora through her Facebook page — Flora Harris Eventing.
