A heartbroken dog owner has revealed his pooch was shot dead while out enjoying an evening walk after being mistaken for a fox.
Dom Brown's 18-month-old dog Ruby had been taken for a stroll by his brother Rory on Wednesday evening.
Engineering apprentice Rory, 19, had taken Ruby to a field in Crich, Derbyshire - where many people regularly walk their pets - and let her off the lead.
Advert
Ruby ran into a bush at the bottom of the field and onto a public footpath, which was when Rory heard a gunshot.
Running over to see what had happened, Rory came across a young man who started apologising and said: "I think I've shot your dog."
However, as Ruby was still conscious, Rory didn't waste time speaking to the stranger and instead rushed the dog to the vets with Dom.
Advert
Sadly, she died before they got there.
The brothers said the death of Ruby, who 'always wanted to play and was so compassionate,' has been a huge loss to the family.
Dom, an electrician, is understandably heartbroken. He said: "It's gut-wrenching. We're totally heartbroken because we're always in and always at home so we spent so much time with her. Basically our lives revolved around her.
Advert
"She'd always want to be out walking or playing with her toys in the house. She was the happiest dog I've ever seen.
"I don't want to speak to [to the person who shot her] or ever see him. There's nothing he can do. The loss is irreparable.
"Someone's taken something away from me and there's nothing I can do about it.
"She was my reason to get up in the morning and she was everything to me and my family and now she's just gone.
Advert
"You can't just replace a dog, can you? She was like a human to me.
"Within the space of 15 minutes she's gone. I didn't have the choice to put her down or spend a last few minutes with her. I'd do anything just to spend a bit more time with her."
Rory has also spoken out about people without experience using guns, saying: "He literally had no reason to shoot her. She wasn't causing harm to anyone or bothering anything. She was just having fun in the field.
Advert
"For me he was an inexperienced lad with an extremely powerful weapon that could have killed somebody.
"You know what kids are like with dogs. I see families walking their dogs on that field all the time. Kids are best friends with dogs, they could have been playing in the bush with that dog. It could have hit them.
"At the end of the day he's got an extremely powerful gun and in my opinion he's quite clearly not very good at using it. It's very reckless.
"If it was a 40-year-old bloke and an experienced gunman he would not have shot that dog, would he?
"I don't see the point in killing animals anyway, even if you're shooting birds. I don't understand what you get from it.
"For me it's just a pointless sport when you could be clay-pigeon shooting or something.
"In today's day and age when we try and protect animals as much as we can, I don't understand it.
"If a fox is an immediate threat to your livestock I can totally understand it, but to just go out on a Wednesday to blast a fox, I don't really get that.
"He wasn't even on an organised hunt or shoot. He wasn't making any effort to make people aware that he was on a public footpath with a gun."
Paying tribute to his late dog on Facebook, Dom wrote: "My brother was walking her down the public footpath next to my house on Sherwood Drive Crich at approximately 7pm this evening, being her usual self sniffing around in the bushes.
"A young lad with a 410 shotgun and a black Labrador shot her dead claiming he mistook her for a fox. Please if you are this young lad or know him please come forward as the police need to know the details."
Derbyshire Police said: "The investigation is ongoing and there has been no arrests."
Featured Image Credit: Kennedy News and MediaTopics: Dog, uk news, News, Animals