HANSEN, Idaho (KMVT/KSVT) — Trevor Henderson says he’s had his dog, Ellie, since she was 8 weeks old. He says two men out hunting claimed they mistook her for a coyote.
“We heard three gunshots just one after the other,” said Henderson.
Henderson describes it as a typical day- he and his dog Ellie woke up Sunday morning to go bird hunting in the South Hills, but just a couple hours later, the unthinkable happened.
“We were parked right over there and that’s where she was shot and killed at,” said Henderson, pointing towards the grassland area in the hills. “She was lying in a puddle of blood.”
Henderson owns three other German Shorthaired Pointers, all of them the same breed as Ellie. He said on that morning, she had a tracking collar, which should have made it obvious she wasn’t a coyote.
“Our officers are still gathering information on what happened,” said Terry Thompson.
Terry Thompson, from Idaho Fish and Game, says that the hunters accused of killing Ellie violated the department’s code of ethics because they did not fully identify their target before shooting–an important rule in hunting.
“We teach this all the time in our hunter education classes; you need to know the species that you’re hunting and be able to absolutely identify that species before you ever pull the trigger,” said Thompson.
“Instances like this are just negligent, you know something like that can’t happen,” said Quinn Inwards. “We just want people to be aware there are hunting dogs out here running around on public lands.”
Quinn Inwards is the president of High Desert Pointing Dog Club. He’s now looking to raise awareness and increase safety for hunters and their companions.
Meanwhile, Henderson is still mourning his loss and fighting for justice for Ellie, who he says wasn’t just a hunting dog, but also a member of his family.
“My dog’s life is not any less than a moose or any wildlife where you can have repercussions for that and I think it’s wrong,” said Henderson.
Idaho Fish and Game says they have already made contact with the coyote hunters who killed Ellie. State law identifies dogs as property.
According to Fish and Game, there could be other laws in Idaho that killing a dog could fall under, but it’s up to the discretion of the county prosecutor to determine that.
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