Man charged over alleged shooting of two sausage dogs

A Hay man has been charged with animal cruelty offences. Photo: Shri Gayathirie Rajen.

A 61-year-old man from the western Riverina town of Hay has been charged with animal cruelty offences after the alleged shooting of two dachshunds, commonly known as sausage dogs.

On Tuesday morning (12 March), Griffith-based Police Inspector Glenn Smith told Triple M Riverina Radio host Matt Collins about the alleged incident.

The Inspector said that on Saturday 2 March, a complaint was made to Hay Police after a resident allegedly discovered air rifle pellets lodged in their two dachshunds. An investigation was commenced.

At about 11 am on 7 March, Hay police attended a residential address in Hay where a registered air rifle and air rifle pellets were located and seized from a rear shed.

“During the search, police also detected a number of [alleged] firearm safe storage offences with regards to registered firearms owned by the occupants,” Inspector Smith told Triple M.

This resulted in the seizure of those firearms.

At the conclusion of the search warrant, a 61-year-old male occupant returned to the address where he was placed under arrest.

He was transported to Hay Police Station where he was charged with animal cruelty and firearm possession offences.

He was granted conditional bail and will appear in court on 6 May. The man’s firearm licence was also suspended.

Inspector Smith said the sausage dogs were reportedly doing OK.