Holyrood family calls for accountability after pet killed by off-leash dogs in own backyard
CBC
The barking of two rowdy dogs punctuates Kimberly Ghaney’s day. It's the same sound she heard as her dog, Mickey, died in her arms after being mauled.
It was a Thursday morning. Ghaney said two large, black dogs attacked her Havanese in her own backyard.
“He’s part of the family … and now he’s gone tragically, violently, for no reason,” she said in an interview with CBC News.
Mickey wouldn’t have died if the other dogs were properly leashed, said Ghaney. She blames her nine-year-old pet’s death on irresponsible ownership and inadequate enforcement of her town’s regulations.
Ghaney explained her yard is unfenced and Mickey was on his leash that morning. The black dogs were not, and thus were able to walk up her driveway and behind her house.
The Holyrood RCMP issued four tickets to the owner of the black dogs — who lives at the bottom of Ghaney’s driveway — under the Newfoundland and Labrador Animal Health and Protection Act.
Police say the penalty for failure to tether the animals and permitting them to cause harm will be determined by the court. According to the Act, a fine of $300 is typical for a first offence and $1,500 for a third and subsequent offences.
Police are still investigating the matter.
But Ghaney thinks tickets aren't enough, maintaining that the dogs and their owner have been causing problems in the neighbourhood. She said the fatal incident wasn’t the first time she saw the animals on her property.
“We know that they roam and that they aren't shy,” she said.
Ghaney told CBC News she and her neighbours have told the owner to tether his dogs numerous times since he moved to the area three years ago — but they were still allowed to wander.
“He's very nonchalant about it. He doesn't really express any concern about it,” she said. “When my daughter yelled at him as he was coming to collect his dogs and said, ‘your dogs killed my dog,’ he said, ‘Oh, sorry,’ and walked back down the driveway.”
CBC News met the owner of the black dogs outside of his home to request an interview, but he refused.
Just up the road, Kate Phillips equips herself with a cane before she walks her dog, Whisky.
All school purpose vehicles outside of London, Ont. are cancelled Wednesday morning due to a thick blanket of fog causing poor visibility on the roads.
Gas prices in the Greater Toronto Area jumped six cents on Wednesday, with experts warning more increases are expected in the days ahead due to the U.S. and Israel-Iran war.
Albertans listening to the U.S. president’s state of the union address last week may have experienced a sense of deja vu when it came to Donald Trump’s plans for AI data centres: “We’re telling the major tech companies that they have the obligation to provide for their own power needs.”
A prominent labour organization in Newfoundland and Labrador that was pushing hard for topsides construction contracts on the Bay du Nord production vessel says a plan to invest in a massive floating dry dock will more than offset the loss of any work on the topsides.
Some Iranians in Sudbury, Ont., say they are ecstatic about recent attacks from the United States and Israel against Iran.
A Nova Scotia family is speaking out after two masked intruders entered a Halifax-area high school and violently attacked a Grade 9 student, prompting concerns about school safety and security.
Keith Hoyt’s cows used to be the neighbourhood celebrities.
It is a bluebird morning at Mont Tremblant ski resort, with the white peaks reaching into a clear sky.
The man responsible for the 2018 Humboldt Broncos bus crash could be deported to India within weeks, leaving behind his wife and two children, who are pleading with Canada to let him stay.
Delays and closures, including the cancellation of several families of schools, are in effect across parts of P.E.I. Wednesday morning after an overnight snowfall on the Island.
In late 2024, two B.C. men were staring at up to 20 years in prison for allegedly attempting to subvert U.S. clean air laws by smuggling millions of dollars worth of illegal car parts across the border.
A Hamilton police officer, back at work after he was investigated for sharing racist and extremist content online, is again displaying a sticker "associated with white nationalist extremism" on his vehicle, a community group says.
A class action lawsuit alleging Canada's Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program exploits the labour and Charter rights of agricultural workers can proceed, a judge decided last week.