Family Dog Shot By Hunter With Bow And Arrow

Scott Fuller has a message for hunters: Pay attention.

As a result of one not following that advice, Fuller’s 6-year-old dog Hera is dead, his family devastated, and it’s unsure if the person at fault will ever be charged with wrongdoing.

Fuller knew something was wrong when he called his two Boxers in on Dec. 13, and only one returned. The Bethel, Minnesota, resident followed his younger dog, Zeus, to a clearing where Hera lay dead, Kare 11 reports.

Source: YouTube/KARE 11
Hera was a 6-year-old Boxer.

“Looks like she’d gotten up for one more try. Got another two or three feet, and that’s where she died,” Fuller said.

The hunter used a mechanical broadhead arrow point, which dealt a mortal wound to Hera. Testimony later collected from the hunter indicates he may have thought he was aiming at a coyote, but Fuller isn’t convinced.

“After the buck ran, there pops up Hera. It sounds like he said at first, he thought it might have been a coyote. But this is what he says. Then he shot, and he could hear it was clearly a dog,” Fuller said. “I don’t buy it, because I saw the stand and I saw the shooting range. I mean, Hera looks nothing like a coyote. He just shot her. And he didn’t even bother to look.”

Source: YouTube/KARE 11
Hera was one of the Fuller’s family before she was killed by a hunter’s arrow.

It’s against the law to shoot at a dog in Minnesota, as it is in any other state, though the Anoka County Sheriff’s department has not filed any charges against the hunter at fault. There is cause to believe the hunter did not realize he was aiming at a dog.

“I’m a hunter myself. I’ve got nothing against them hunting there. But you’d think if you were in a development – that close to a development – you see someone’s dog, you don’t just shoot it,” Fuller said.

Source: YouTube/KARE 11
Scott and Christina Fuller are distraught over the loss of their dog.

Fuller’s wife, Christina, maintains that it could have just as easily been a cat, or even a child playing out in the field, Valley News reports. For the Fullers, Hera was just as much one of their children as their three kids.

Source: YouTube/KARE 11
Scott Fuller doesn’t believe the hunter knew what he was aiming at.

“We’d lay them next to each other just to compare their size, because she was a small boxer,” Christina said. “She had a big heart. She was really sweet to the kids. They’d climb on them and all that sort of stuff.”

The Fuller’s are now facing life without their precious Hera, a responsibility that not everyone in the family was ready to take on.

“Zeus doesn’t know life without her.” Christina said. “And seeing him sad is almost as sad as seeing the kids or having our hearts broken.”