Man heartbroken after dog is killed by officer who thought it was a coyote

WBZ, KIRK RUMFORD, CNN

By Paul Burton

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    NORTHBRIDGE, Massachusetts (WBZ) — A Northbridge, Massachusetts man is devastated after his Husky puppy was shot and killed by an animal control officer, who thought the dog was a coyote.

Kirk Rumford is brought to tears talking about his 11-month-old puppy, Odin.

“They say ‘we got bad news’ and stuff. And it didn’t click until he actually said we shot and killed him,” said Rumford. “He was just a puppy, you know?”

Northbridge Police Chief Timothy Labrie said on Tuesday afternoon, an animal control officer responded to Fowler Road after a neighbor reported seeing a coyote in her backyard. The officer then went into the woods to try and find it.

“An honest mistake”

“Truly an honest mistake,” said Labrie. “While he’s in the woods, he hears a blood-curdling scream from the same lady that he just spoke to, so he runs back out and sees what he believed was a coyote. So he takes up his position, he’s calling out to distract it, maybe it’ll take off, gets within 10 yards and that’s when he fired a shot and killed the coyote.”

The animal control officer quickly discovered it was Odin, not a coyote. Rumford admitted sometimes his dog would get out and roam the area freely and police had received a number of calls about coyote sightings. Still, Rumford said his dog does not look like a coyote.

Says dog was not aggressive

“He’s not aggressive at all, he’s a big goofball, he’s never shown his teeth once,” said Rumford. “I take food out of his mouth and bring him to the dog park and he just plays with everybody.”

Police said this was all a terrible mistake.

“I would call it a mistaken identity,” said Labrie. “The dog owner, we know that he’s upset. He lost his dog, which is to a lot of people, is like a child. The animal control officer has been doing this for 21 years, he’s an animal lover himself, he’s clearly upset.”

Rumford said he’s not sure what he plans to do with his dog’s remains. The police department said they’re willing to help out on their end any way they can and will pay for the cremation.

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