Dog shot to death - Bailey, CO

Friday, Jun 20, 2008

Sharon Robertson's dog SaraBean was shot and killed in her Deer Creek Valley Ranchos neighborhood on Friday June 20. When Robertson returned home from work at around 5 p.m., SaraBean wasn't around, which Robertson said was unusual. She went down to Animal Control in Bailey, but no one was there and there were no dogs in the pen, she said.

As she was driving home, she prayed, "God help me find her."

She went down her street, away from her home, and found SaraBean in a pasture owned by Stacey Rowland, a neighbor. Her first thought was that the dog had been hit by a car. But once she approached SaraBean and turned her over she saw the hole in her chest area. It appeared to Robertson that the bullet hit SaraBean's heart.

While Robertson did not have a fenced yard, SaraBean stayed around the house. Robertson said she was sure the dog would go around the neighborhood. Robertson said she had never received any complaints about SaraBean.

"If someone had told me she was a nuisance, I would have done something," Robertson said.

She said she has no idea who would have shot her dog. She added that no one heard anything.

Rowland sent an e-mail to Ron Lalone, president of the Deer Creek Valley Ranchos homeowners' association, asking him to e-mail the residents of DCVR and make them aware of what happened.

He forwarded the information to the members of the HOA as well as Park County Animal Control.

"It's pretty upsetting," Lalone said. "We usually don't have big-time crime here in the Ranchos."

Lalone did add that the area where the dog was found is a pretty busy intersection in the subdivision.

"Maybe if we are lucky, someone may have some information as well regarding this incident and will contact the Park County Sheriff's Department," Rowland wrote in her e-mail.

Undersheriff Monte Gore said it appeared the dog had been shot with a small-caliber firearm.

Dennis Obduskey, who also lives in Deer Creek Valley Ranchos, said that this is the first time he's heard of something like this happening in the neighborhood in the 10 years he's lived there. He said that while he didn't know Robertson, the incident breaks his heart but also makes him angry at the same time.

"I hope they get who did it," Obduskey said.

Obduskey added that he heard a gunshot in the middle of the night a couple of days ago. He doesn't own guns himself, he said, and gunshots make him nervous. Someone who's bold enough to shoot a dog during the day could just as easily shoot a person, he added.

Rowland said that Robertson is very upset to think that someone shot and killed her dog "in the middle of the day in our very quiet neighborhood."

For Robertson, it's a difficult loss. "She was a sweet girl," she said. "I miss her terribly."

References

• « CO State Animal Cruelty Map
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