Diezel the 9-year-old Yorkshire Terrier suffered injuries akin to being stomped on or beaten with something, a vet who examined him says. Photo/Candice Ferguson.
Diezel the 9-year-old Yorkshire Terrier suffered injuries akin to being stomped on or beaten with something, a vet who examined him says. Photo/Candice Ferguson.
Warning: some may find content upsetting
A Hamilton family are shocked and scared after their beloved pet was beaten and left for dead in a bathroom of their Millennium Heights, Flagstaff, home.
Candice Ferguson says her mother, Antoinette, can't sleep at the thought of her 9-year-old yorkshire terrier, Diezel, suffering such a cruel way.
A vet who examined the dead dog believed he was killed by either being stomped or hit with something hard to the head area.
Meanwhile, Craig Dunn of animal welfare group Paw Justice is so incensed by what's happened he has put up a $2000 reward leading to the arrest of those involved.
But on Tuesday evening, Diezel did not run out to meet her.
"She got out of the car, had a look around, couldn't see him, walked down the side of the house and that's where she saw some blood and two of his teeth and she thought 'oh gosh, what's happened here?'."
She walked through the house and nothing was out of place - until she walked into her en suite bathroom.
Diezel, right, and his sister, Honey, sit at their favourite spot waiting for their owner, Antoinette Ferguson, to come home. Photo/Candice Ferguson.
"That's where she saw him. She only needed to take a tiny look at him because she knew he was dead."
Ferguson said blood was spattered all up the bathroom walls and on the floor.
"I had a look in the bathroom and there was blood up the walls, that little pool of brain matter where his head had laid after he'd been hit, droplets of blood everywhere and smeared up the wall. Like someone had rubbed it up there.
"He was saturated in blood, his jaw off his face and his eye was out and his head was all mangled, smashed."
Ferguson said she and her brother talked to a few neighbours who didn't recall seeing much, although one woman said she had seen a "really weird couple carrying a rope and calling out for something" about 2pm.
The family assumed another dog had got in the house and killed their family pooch, but the lack of blood anywhere else in the house, combined with the vet's findings, sent a chill up their spine.
Diezel, left, and his cousin, Chilli, going for a ride. Photo/Candice Ferguson.
"It's just horrible and really scary to know that someone has done that. Mum is so heartbroken, she loves him so much. He is so precious to her and for her to think about how he died is just horrible.
"She's distraught. She didn't go to work yesterday but she has to go back today. She hasn't been able to sleep and has been taking sleeping pills.
"But she's scared now and she won't open the curtains or anything."
As for how the killers got in, Ferguson said her mother thinks she may have left the side door open. "It's a terrible way to learn a lesson but she is definitely going to be more careful now."
Dunn described the incident as "absolutely disgusting" and was keen to help track down those involved.
Waikato Senior Sergeant Jason McKay said they were investigating.
