A close friend of mine in Marshall lost both of her dogs on her 30th birthday. Twenty-four hours before [the dogs died], she noticed they were very sick. My friend lives in Marshall; her dogs roam free when she is home.
The day her dogs went missing, she knew they were not well and went to find them. She found her Malamute/Wolf dog, Magic, dying in a stream. She quickly got a tarp and, with the help of some neighbors, pulled her dog out to bring him to the hospital. Magic came up positive for antifreeze. She could only believe her other missing dog was going through the same tragic death. The next day they found her second dog, Riley.
To make a long story short: Hunters come into an area, in which they do not live, and plant corn to attract deer. They also plant food injected with antifreeze to kill other animals that would interfere with their hunting.
It is horrific that hunters are so callous as to murder members of people’s families to enjoy killing defenseless animals.
— Melissa Terrezza and Sean Pace
Asheville
“Hunters come into an area, in which they do not live, and plant corn to attract deer. They also plant food injected with antifreeze to kill other animals that would interfere with their hunting.”
If this is in fact true, then stringent laws should be passed to prevent this kind of barbaric act by a bunch of jerks out to satisfy their bloodlust.
There is nothing even remotely sportsman-like in this kind of heinous behavior.
First off, you’re making a major assumption as to how the dogs ingested antifreeze. There’s zero evidence that the dogs were poisoned by hunters. Sure, that’s a possibility, but the authors don’t give any reason as to why they think this, other than an obvious bias against hunting.
As an aside, deer hunters don’t plant corn, they use it as bait. As in carrying a 50 pound bag into the wilderness and scattering it to attract them.
Second, the hunters I know (for the record, I’m not one) hunt for FOOD, not blood lust. My neighbor is an avid deer hunter. He feeds his family over the winter by hunting, not so he can get his rocks off. He also never hunts on property that isn’t his own without the owners permission.
I’m sorry that happened to your friends dogs. It’s horrible. But it’s not fair at all to tarnish all hunters because of their tragedy.
“…the hunters I know (for the record, I’m not one) hunt for FOOD, not blood lust.”
The majority of hunters I know personally do so for the same reason. However, I’ve known some that hunt for other reasons. I used to work with some desk jockeys who, as soon as deer season opened, would hide behind a blind and shoot deer that had been allowed to feast unmolested for weeks from a small corn field. I call that blood lust, but maybe there’s a better word. Several come to my mind. I also know (or knew in years past) people who hunted because they “liked to be part of nature”. I asked one of these people if they couldn’t get the same enjoyment by shooting the animals with a camera instead, but couldn’t get a coherent answer. They would give the kill away.
I think you’re right that nothing was offered by the letter writer other than wild speculation as to the cause of the dogs’ deaths.
I am saddened by the loss of the dogs. How irresponsible that people let their dogs RUN.
I’m actually baffled that MX chose to run this letter considering how the author completely jumped to conclusions and blamed hunters without backing up the claim in any way.
If I were to write a letter blaming the recent vandalism of a local artists property on, say, homeless people would the Express run it? I doubt it.
“Bow hunting is the only deer hunting that comes close to “sport”. It would be 100% sporting only if the deer were armed too.”
It would be closer to sport if the hunter wore only a spiked helmut simulating a buck’s horns, and went after the game remaining on all fours.
True. Maybe you should start a campaign to arm gazelles with razor sharp claws to fight off lions.
“True. Maybe you should start a campaign to arm gazelles with razor sharp claws to fight off lions.”
If lions were the highest life form on the planet, with cognitive abilities comparable to man and the ability to employ high technology, then I might be tempted to do just that.
It is my understanding that hot dogs injected with anti-freeze were found in both pets stomachs. Hunting season is upon us. Motive and opportunity? Seems premeditated to me.
Aslan from Narnia and that king of the Island of Misfit Toys seemed pretty articulate.
We seem to have overlooked a not so small problem…you are letting a “Wolf dog” run loose!? That should be against the law! Now obviously I am against poisoning folk’s pets, but if I saw a “wolf dog” running loose in my neighborhood, my husband would probably shoot it to protect our livestock. (not to mention our children)
[b]If lions were the highest life form on the planet, with cognitive abilities comparable to man [/b]
I believe Snoop Dogg is the highest form of known life.
I believe Snoop Dogg is the highest form of known life
In one sense, that’s probably indisputable.
Antifreeze-injected hotdogs sounds less like a hunter and more like someone who just flat-out hates dogs. If it was the hunter, wouldn’t it have been easier to just shoot it? I’ve never heard of hunters using antifreeze: I’m not one (a hunter), but if I was I’d be worried about the creature I was hunting eating it and contaminating the meat. Too risky.
If the dogs wandered off of the owner’s property, I’d look at the people who lived in the area the dogs roamed through…not that anyone who’d stoop to poisoning is going to have the guts to own up. Poison is such a cowardly way to kill.
We should ban hunters orange, and let these neanderthals shoot at each other.
“We should ban hunters orange, and let these neanderthals shoot at each other.” –chops
Mr Chops, curious here. Besides being a bit coldish snarky here considering somebody’s dogs were poioned, do you eat meat? If you do eat meat, perhaps you should consider the hypocrisy of calling others “neanderthal” when you are no better. The person who shops for neatly packaged “meat” at a supermarket is no different than a hunter. Come to think of it, there is one difference. The hunter is at least honest.
I like your username. I, too, am local. But not proud. Sorry about the snark. I can’t help myself sometimes.
I am actually a vegetarian, but that is beside the point.
There is another difference, that was my original point. The supermarket shoppers are not dangerous enough to require high-visibility clothing.
I’ve lived in Marshall for 6 years. I let my dog roam. I tried for years to keep him in by way of fence, run, and I usually just took him with me to work. He had his normal route during the day. He visited the same people on the mountain daily and over the years actually made a lot of friends for me. On Wednesday, September 1, I came home to find him very very sick. I rushed him to the vet and he was dosed with vitamin k with hopes that it would offset the affects of any poison. He was dead by 9pm. I opted to not have an autopsy because they told me that i wouldn’t get his remains back, and knowing what happened wouldn’t bring moses back anyway. I am curious, though, to find out if these other two dogs were in the same area and if it was around the same date..I do not tend to jump to the assumption that a hunter would do this, although I will say that there is someone around here that likes to dump the “leftover” carcasses from their kill on the side of the road which really pisses me off..
I find a couple aspects of this story troubling. The author seems to jump to a conclusion without offering any real evidence but if we accept her claims as true then there are two problems.
As a life long hunter I deplore anyone who doesn’t follow ethical hunting practices. If I hunt on private land I have permission from the owner. I close gates and clean up and personally I find baiting awfully unsportsmanlike. Hunter or not whoever poisoned these dogs ought to be prosecuted.
As a life long dog owner and as someone who lives in a rather remote area, I find it irresponsible that this pet owner let her dogs run free. I suspect that for every friend they made they also probably annoyed someone else. My dogs have been trained to stay on my property and if I find evidence that are wandering then they are penned or limited to supervised walks.
I love my dogs like a family member but I have no right to inflict them on anyone else and as a responsible owner I have an obligation to keep them on my property.
These dogs suffered a terrible fate they didn’t deserve. There’s no excuse for the folks who killed them but the owner bears a good deal of responsibility for their fate as well.
I know it’s only a fantasy, but I long for the day when hunted critters are armed themselves and can shoot back–with deadly accuracy. As a species, we haven’t been forest hunters/gatherers for over two centuries. Hunting is NOT a sport; it’s simply licensed brutality. Call it what it is today, not what it needed to be 200 years ago.