Spirit the dog was viciously attacked after he came face-to-face with an intruder in his owner’s Surrey home.
The Belgian Shepherd is now recovering at the vet’s office after he was rushed to surgery. He narrowly missed getting slashed in the eye. The intruder/trespasser stabbed Spirit almost a dozen times with a pocket knife. In the picture, he’s seen with Ricky Bajwa, manager at the Surrey Animal Hospital.
Spirit’s owner, Shelly Schweighardt, called 911 after hearing an intruder in her yard. A trespasser had come into her yard which is also a family business, a nursery selling plants and trees.
Shelly’s brother Darcy Schweighardt read a statement on her behalf.
“Shelly is obviously incredibly upset right now with what has happened to her beloved dog, Spirit,” said Darcy in an interview with the Province. “Shelly wants everyone to know that because of Spirit’s love for her and the relationship they have, he chose to protect her from harm.
“Right now she is faced with dealing with Spirit’s injuries and the possible loss of a part of her family. She asks that she be left alone to deal with this and not be bothered with phone calls or people showing up at her home or business. She would like to just let the RCMP do their job and bring the person responsible to justice for this horrific attack.
“She would like to thank everyone for the outpouring of support and to the unknown person who has donated towards the medical bills that are going to be incurred in order to save Spirit, which will be considerable.”
Surrey RCMP are investigating the incident and Sgt. Dale Carr said some evidence was left behind at the scene that may help in tracking down Spirit’s assailant.
“The dog was simply doing what dogs do, protecting their property, from the sound of things,” said Carr.
“We haven’t sorted out what his intentions were,” added Carr of the trespasser, who is described as a Caucasian male in his mid-20s to early 30s with shaggy, dark hair and possibly some facial hair.
The man also had a tattoo on his neck, perhaps the letter “S,” and was wearing a dark-coloured checkered shirt and jeans with a tear in the knee.
The incident took place in the 12700-block 58th Avenue.
Carr told a troubling story about what happened to Schweighardt and Spirit.
“She’s sitting on her property and sees a male by a hydro tower,” said Carr. “She yells out at him, ‘What are you doing?’”
The man runs out of sight and the woman hears Spirit barking.
“She goes to see (what’s happening) and sees he’s stabbing away, slashing (at Spirit])” said Carr.
The man then fled.
“We have more unanswered questions than answered questions at this point,” said Carr.
“Was he cutting through (the private property)? Was he going to commit an offence? We don’t know.”
Police believe the suspect may have climbed a fence from an adjacent property.
h/t: The Province
Photo credit: The Province
