Submitted by Fox First at Ten on October 30th
NEWMAN LAKE, Wash – Residents of Newman Lake say poaching is worse this year than ever before, and they've had enough. Neighbors tell KHQ they've seen a lot of unfamiliar cars driving through, they hear gunshots or rifles firing, and see injured or dead animals in fields, yards, and on the side of the road.
And now, a family dog has been killed in the crossfire. "She'd been shot by, I think, a poacher that was shooting a deer and happened to shoot her at the same time," said Troy Bise. He says his wife had been feeding the animals and let the dog out just before 9:00 a.m. on Thursday, October 25th.
Then, she heard three consecutive shots that sounded like they came from a shotgun. When the dog didn't return, they went looking for it, and found it 5 feet from a deer in the neighbor's yard – and both animals were dead. "My worry is what if my wife had gone to retrieve the dog and got in the way of the person shooting at deer," Bise explained.
Now, he's walking through his neighborhood, off McCoy & Hauser Lake Road, putting up signs offering $1,000 for information leading to the prosecution of the man who shot his dog. "I'm supportive of the hunters too, I know that keeps the deer population down," he added.
"But I wish the people who were hunting would do so responsibly and stay off posted property." Bise isn't the only one concerned. "I've seen a lot of wounded animals, a lot of animals on the side of the road that have been shot and dumped," said Darla Yarvitz, who also lives in Newman Lake. "It's terrible."
To learn more about poaching, or to make a report, visit: http://wdfw.wa.gov/enforcement/reporting_violations.html
