COLLINGWOOD, ONTARIO - Merrick, a beloved family dog who just happened to be Deaf had managed to make it all the way to 21 years of age.
Still, she never lost her talent for sniffing out an adventure. When a storm blew open the back gate at her home in Collingwood, just north of Toronto, the old dog ventured off into the night.
But then in an unexpected and tragic turn, Merrick was run over three times by a police cruiser before she was finally shot dead.
Her crime? Police thought she was a coyote. In fact, she was a cattle dog. The disturbing Monday night encounter was captured on video.
This is not a humane method to euthanize an animal in any situation. It is reported that this animal did not move when nudged by the officers car before the officer decided to run it down three times before shooting it.
Karen Sutherland, the dog's owner, told reporters that Merrick suffers from dementia, and had slipped through a gate in her backyard during a storm.
Karen Sutherland shows a picture of her dog Merrick, the animal struck and killed by an OPP officer @CityNews pic.twitter.com/z3UH5HbpBp— Amanda Ferguson (@CityNewsAmanda) October 21, 2015"I'm a little bit in shock ... I didn't watch the video until Wednesday morning. It was enough to make me a lot more upset than I was last night," Sutherland told CityNews.
Christine Soti, a Collingwood resident who witnessed the incident, told the Globe and Mail that Merrick was still moving after being hit by the car a third time. "The eyes were opening and closing."
In the wake of Merrick's killing, police are facing tough questions about how officers deal with animal situations.
The Ontario Provincial Police did not immediately return a call to The Dodo, but Inspector John Trude told Postmedia Network that there had been complaints from two residents about a coyote on the loose.
"When the officer got there, it was growling," he said. "The actions of the dog caused the officer to believe it was still aggressive... Read More: https://thedodo.com/merrick-dog-shot-police-canada.html
