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Leroy & Rosie - Sister & Brother
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March 17, 2002 |
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by: Petrina Britt
 When we heard gunshots on the afternoon of Thursday, February 14, 2002 ringing out in the normally quiet pastoral area of Princeville agricultural subdivision it never dawned on us that our lives were being altered at that very moment… Dogs have always been an integral part of our family and that day our mischievous border collie shepherd mix pups (they were almost 2 years old but to us they were known as the pups), Rosie and Leroy (sister and brother) had escaped our yard unbeknownst to us after being teased for hours by the neighbor’s cat. They managed to wiggle under a part of our fence (taking their mother with them) unfortunately they did catch and kill the cat. After that, true to the nature of animals, they proceeded to chase this same neighbor’s ducks – at which point our neighbor shot and killed both of them point blank with a high powered rifle – the mother got away, which may or may not be a blessing considering the level of her grief at watching her pups be killed. As the facts of this horrible event have revealed themselves to us we are shocked that current laws seem to side with the violent act of our neighbor. We cannot believe that it is okay to kill any living creature that crosses onto your property simply because you don’t want it there as this person has been known to do as well with wild pigs. We are astounded that it is legal to shoot off a high powered rifle in an essentially residential neighborhood which makes us and our neighbors very uncomfortable – our homes are not that far apart – what if a bullet ricochets? The fact that the man who is wielding this weapon has less than perfect eyesight and an obvious temper is also a concern. Where is the humanity in condoning this type of behavior? We do understand survival of the fittest and natural selection in the animal kingdom, which states that animals will follow their instinct. We could better understand losing Rosie and Leroy to a wild boar, even a pack of wild dogs, even being run over by a car though all of those endings would have probably been more painful then being taken down by a rifle. We simply cannot process and accept their lives being taken by another human being who had the time and mental capacity to think and make a choice as to what he would do. He chose not to call us, his next-door neighbor of many years (actually claims he didn’t know the dogs were ours after sharing a fence line with us about 10 years), or the Humane Society, he chose not to try and scare them away. He chose to kill them. Also the fact that he maintains fowl as pets, which is essentially bait for all the dogs in the neighborhood, without securing their safety with any type of fencing certainly makes it appear that he relishes the idea of target practice. As all dog owners and humane animal lovers understand we are devastated at the loss of our dogs to such a violent act – Rosie and Leroy were almost 2 years old, they were rambunctious little bundles and we couldn’t have loved them anymore than we did, in as much as we tried to keep them safely within our fence unfortunately they loved adventures and this final one proved fatal. Not only has this been difficult for my husband and myself but it’s been a shocking life lesson for our teenage sons – one we certainly think they could have done without. The question now is – what can be done to change the current laws to protect our pets and limit the use of firearms in residential areas? We are also investigating any form of recourse we may have in loving memory of Rosie and Leroy.
Petrina & Bob Britt
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Princeville Ag Subdivision
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