No leads in dog shooting

Photo: Google Maps

An eight-year-old dog is back home from the animal hospital after having extensive surgery because of two gunshot wounds.

The shooting happened about 7 p.m. Sunday evening on Upper Booth Road in the Ellison area of Kelowna.

Dr. Eliot Kaplan, the veterinarian who performed surgery on the beagle-cross, said the owner lost sight of the dog for 10 or 15 minutes, and when he came home, it had been shot.

“It sounds like the dog wasn’t far from home,” Kaplan said.

The damages to the dog were extensive, but it's expected to recover.

“The dog had one bullet lodged in its left kidney, and the other had gone through its spleen. Both had caused significant hemorrhaging in the abdomen,” said Kaplan. “The dog will probably go home today, not good as new, but doing much better.”

Cpl. Joe Duncan, RCMP media relation’s officer, said he believed the dog was shot with a pellet gun, but Kaplan disagreed.

“It looks like a .22 to me,” he said. “I’m not a ballistics expert, but that’s what it looks like.”

Police were called to the area and did a neighbourhood inquiry, but nobody saw or heard anything, according to Duncan.

Duncan said residents in the area told police there are suspicious vehicles and young people in the area all the time, but no leads were found.

The investigation is now closed.