On the morning of Monday 14th September, our two beautiful dogs got out from our Essex countryside home with us unaware. We realised 15 minutes after they were gone and straight away jumped into the car to go and look for them, we turned left out of our home and search at the nearby farm but no one had seen them. We then decided to try the farm on the other side of our home. We pulled in and asked a man if he had seen our dogs and he said that he had seen them on the farmers' field and he had asked the farmer if she needed help catching them as they were chasing her sheep. The farmer DECLINED his help and so the man carried on working and the farmer disappeared. He showed us how to get to the main farm to speak to this farmer and we proceeded. When we pulled up to the farm we got out of the car and saw an old lady, we asked her if she had seen our two dogs. The lady said, "If it's the two dogs I'm thinking about, I've shot them." She said this with no remorse and we didn't really understand what she had just said. We replied, "Excuse me?" And she replied bluntly again "I've shot them, they attacked my sheep". My partner then asked if they were dead, he was still in shock and she replied YES. I broke down screaming after the two dogs, my heart broke in two, I felt it. These were two family pets that meant the world to us, anyone who met them, loved them and they were very kind and a real part of the family. When we asked the lady why she would do this, she said that the dogs killed one of her sheep (just by chasing it - not by mauling it) and injured one other. I apologised for what they had done but asked her why would she do something like this, why did she need to kill them, why couldn't she shoot in the air to scare them? (Our boy dog was scared of a water hose! He would've stopped chasing the sheep if he got scared off. I know my dogs. Our girl dog was very loving and she would've easily been stopped if they had actually tried). The lady said she ONLY killed the dogs because they would've come back for her sheep. She admitted to me that's why she got her son to shoot them dead. She later changed it to she shot them because they killed one sheep. This later developed to they shot them when they were no longer attacking the sheep. The son that shot them then admitted our girl dog was actually on her way home when he shot her. He said his mum told him to get his gun and shoot them both dead. The man says he shot them from 20+ yards away with a shotgun, but this is impossible. When we saw the dogs the bullet hole was so small through their head that they would've had to be shot point-blank in the head, close enough to be caught if they wanted to, close enough that the dogs clearly weren't attacking anything and were still. These two farmers had no interest in catching the dogs as they turned down help and they shot the dogs point blank and one was on their way home. It was done out of spite, revenge and pure evil. We have sheep, our dogs have never attacked our sheep so I am very surprised if one had really been killed by our dogs, however, whether they did or did not - on the day I still apologised for this act. I am so horrified that the lady farmer was, in fact, happy that both of dogs had died because one of her sheep did. We have evidence of her (recorded) saying they didn't need to shoot both of the dogs and one was on their way home. We have on the recording that they were offered help to catch them but they didn't want it. The son says on the recording his mum told him to grab his gun and shoot them. Our family has been broken by this brutal killing. We have not slept and we have not been listened to. They are not allowed to kill a dog that has finished an act towards their animals and especially is on their way home. They can only shoot as a LAST resort. They killed them as their FIRST resort. These people have shot multiple dogs before and they should not be allowed to have guns on their property, they use them like it is nothing. They are not mentally sound to be able to make these choices. We are their neighbours and they made no effort of catching the dogs. Our dogs have never once been a problem before for them. They were brutally murdered and taken from us. It has killed a piece of us and they deserve justice for how they were killed. This lady was pure evil and was proud of what she did. It is not right. It's an outrage. I am disgusted that the police refused our statement as we are apparently NOT victims. This is so wrong and it should've been investigated further. The police didn't even come to see us, we had to chase them. The farmers called them before we got there and we had left before they arrived as we couldn't stay with those people. They said the police were HAPPY with what they told them and they were in the right. I know however that they lied, but still, the police have no interest in getting involved. This needs to be made right because people all around us are losing hope in the justice system. We need to make a change. Please, help us to make a change. Save other dogs for these evil farmers and get justice for what they have admitted to doing. There is no getting over this heartbreak. There is no excuse for what our dogs may have done, but there is certainly no excuse for what the farmers have ADMITTED to doing. We have so many people that can tell you what lovely, funny, beautiful dogs they were. Our girl dog was only just 1 years old, still, a puppy and our boy dog was nearly 4, mature and respectful. If you are an animal lover you will feel for the sheep, but you will be crushed and effected by the act done to these dogs. The police NEED to take their gun licence away and investigate this properly. 

If there is ANYONE in this world who can help us at all, please please contact me.

georgia.donovan@mac.com