BRUNSWICK HILLS TWP.: Hershey, the dog found by a Valley City man Sunday with an arrow protruding from both sides of its chest, was on the mend and back home with his family Wednesday.
The 15-year-old German shepherd-Labrador retriever mix rushed out of his Elm Avenue home Oct. 20 to chase a squirrel. He pushed past the disabled daughter of his owner, Deanne Pennell, she said.
Mindy Daugherty, Pennell’s daughter, was injured in a car accident when she was only a few months old. The crash took the life of her father and left her a quadriplegic.
“I was trying to take Brownie [Hershey’s litter mate] out and he just ran out the door,” Daugherty, 25, said Wednesday at the family home.
The Pennells have owned both dogs since they were 5 weeks old.
Hershey disappeared into the hilly, forested 2› acres of land the family owns abutting Princess Ledges Nature Preserve, a 46-acre site in Brunswick Hills.
“We searched every trail. We called the dog warden and local animal control, Strongsville, the county and put fliers up everywhere,” said Lou Pennell, Deanne’s husband.
They searched for the next 17 days and heard nothing of the 55-pound dog.
On Sunday, a wounded and exhausted Hershey wandered into the backyard belonging to a Valley City homeowner. He called the Medina County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and tried to make the dog more comfortable by cutting off the ends of the arrow embedded in the dog’s body.
SPCA officials retrieved the dog and took him to the Akron Veterinary Referral and Emergency Center in Copley Township to have the arrow removed.
Word of the dog’s predicament quickly spread. A city of Brunswick employee heard one account and said the description of the dog sounded familiar. He looked up the dog’s picture, which the family had posted on a lost-and-found animal page on the city’s website.
“The family had called, probably four times,” said Mike Kellums, who has been the animal control officer in Brunswick for nine years. “I took his description, and they followed through and posted the information.”
Kellums contacted the SPCA and told the agency how to find the Pennells.
Hershey was found “a good 15-mile car ride,” from his home.
“That’s a pretty good trip for a dog,” Kellums said.
What is confounding everyone: How and why Hershey was shot.
“From the pictures I’ve seen, the arrow looked like it had a target tip, not a hunting tip,” Kellums said, and although it is bow-hunting season, he didn’t think a hunter mistook the dog for a deer.
“A seasoned or trained hunter in charge of his weapon should know what they are shooting at before they shoot,” he said.
Lou Pennell said he believes someone purposely shot the dog.
“It wasn’t a crossbow arrow. It was one that would slow down when it hit. That arrow went all the way through his chest,” he reasoned. “It must have been at close range.”
The arrow was probably lodged through the dog’s body at least two days, SPCA Director Stephanie Moore said.
An Olmsted Falls family stepped forward to donate close to $1,000 for Hershey’s care through Tuesday. The agency will continue to collect donations for his follow-up care and for its other animals.
The overjoyed Pennells picked up Hershey on Tuesday afternoon and took him home.
By Wednesday, he was “eating a lot, drinking a lot, and wagging his tail,” Deanne Pennell said.
Although his bark was still weak and a walk around the family’s front yard easily tired him, the dog appeared happy to be home.
“I hope they find the person who did this and that they have to pay the consequences. Whatever a judge gives them, they should be made to volunteer at the SPCA,” Deanne Pennell said.
There have been no other reports in the area of anyone maliciously shooting animals, Kellums said.
Donations can be made for Hershey’s care to the Medina County SPCA by calling 330-723-7722 or online at www.medinacountyspca.com/site/page/donate.
Kathy Antoniotti can be reached at 330-996-3565 or kantoniotti@thebeaconjournal.com.
