Warning: Video contains graphic marterial
About 20 people and their dogs took part in a vigil in Collingwood on Wednesday night to remember a dog that was killed by police.
The vigil was held near the spot where Merrick was run over and shot.
The group has created an online petition calling for new policies to manage problem wildlife in Collingwood.
On Monday night, police received a call about a coyote in a neighbourhood but it turned out be an aging, blind and deaf family pet.
The dog’s owner, Karen Sutherland, says Merrick was more than 20-years-old, deaf and suffered from dementia. The dog slipped out of their backyard through a gate that had blown open during a storm that night.
The killing of the dog was captured on cell phone video and is now being investigated.
On Wednesday Insp. John Trude, detachment commander for Collingwood OPP, says the force's professional standards bureau will look into what happened.
“It appears obviously at this point there has been a tragic mistake and the appearance of a coyote was in fact not true,” Trude says. “The officer and the people in the neighbourhood were acting on that belief and they were acting in their best interests.”
