This Thursday, the Mossos d’Esquadra arrested a 65-year-old man for allegedly killing a dog using a rifle in Bell-lloc d’Urgell (Pla d’Urgell).
The events occurred on May 12 when the owner of four dogs went for a walk with them on a path in the municipality.
One of the animals began to follow a hunter’s van and the owner lost sight of it.
Moments later he heard a gunshot, which he did not give any importance to until he returned home and saw that the dog was not coming. He returned to the area where he had lost sight of her and found her dead. The alleged perpetrator was released after testifying at the police station and seven hunting weapons were seized.
The dog’s owner called the emergency services and a patrol from the Mollerussa police station went to the scene to carry out checks.
The agents saw that the dog, named Ranma, had been shot by a firearm and carried out a visual inspection and a reconstruction of the events with the aim of identifying the perpetrator of the shot.
Subsequently, technicians from the Vallnivel Fauna Center performed a necropsy on the dog, which made it possible to recover a fragment of the projectile that caused her death. The study concluded that the caliber and types of weapons used were specific and unusual.
This Thursday, having collected the evidence, the police arrested the alleged perpetrator of the events, a hunter from the municipality. He also had 7 hunting weapons and their corresponding ammunition seized preventively. Among these weapons is a rifle of the same caliber as the ammunition used to kill the animal.
The ballistic study by the scientific police will confirm whether the seized rifle, the bullet and the sheath are related to the dog’s death.
The detainee is charged with the crime of mistreatment of a domestic animal, punishable by between 12 and 24 months in prison.
The alleged perpetrator was released after testifying at the Mollerussa police station, with the obligation to appear before the judge when required.