Idaho Falls family grieving after dog fatally shot
Published at | Updated at
IDAHO FALLS — A local family is mourning after losing their dog to a pellet gun wound.
The Bitrick family of Fairway Estates in Idaho Falls watched their pet cockapoo, “Halo,” go from emergency surgery to being buried in a matter of hours Tuesday.
“Why would you hurt somebody’s pet? Why would you hurt a member of somebody’s family?” owner Monica Bitrick said. “She was adorable, she was fun, she was non-threatening.
Bitrick said the pet could be considered her middle child. The family adopted Halo at six weeks old.
“She was with us for nine and a half years,” Beatrick said. “She loved getting up in the mornings, and she loved just getting everybody up and running around and just licking and kissing.”
Bitrick said the night Halo was shot started out fairly normal. It was after 8 when Halo was let outside. Halo usually took about 10 minutes. That night it seemed she was taking a while to come home.
“If there’s 15 minutes passed then you need to usually go out and look for her, and 20 minutes is pretty alarming,” Bitrick said.
When Halo didn’t return, the Bitrick family started searching for their pet. They drove around the neighborhood and went door to door. After 45 minutes of looking, the family found Halo on their back porch.
“At that time we thought that she may have been hit and somebody had placed her on our patio,” Bitrick. “It was a pellet gun, in the end, but being a cockapoo, she is 25 pounds — very small, very petite.”
The pellet had gone through Halo’s abdomen, cutting through her spleen and intestines. She experienced four rounds of cardiac arrest due to shock, hemorrhaging and other fluid drainage. Halo died around 9 a.m. Tuesday. She was buried in the Bitricks’ backyard shortly after.
Bitrick has contacted law enforcement. Idaho Falls Animal Control officers visited her home and explained to highly unlikely anything would come of their efforts. They assured the family they would do their best.
“It’s very discouraging, I think, for all of us. You hope obviously for the best in these situations. especially where a crime as been committed,” Bitrick said.“We are actually within city limits. … Anything with firearms is a very serious crime.”
A reward is being offered if the suspect is found — $1,000 for a child and $5,000 for an adult.
“Having the spiritual basis that our family has, I would want them to know that I have prayed for them and I do forgive them, but I want to know why,” Bitrick said.