Charlie the Jack Russell.
POLICE are investigating the hanging death of a pet dog owned by a visually-impaired Mortlake woman who had been away visiting her critically-ill mother.
Karen Martin sobbed as she told The Standard on Friday of the loss of her 11-year-old miniature Jack Russell called Charlie.
“He protected me as if he knew I was blind,” she said.
“I’ve had him since he was a pup. He had lead poisoning as a puppy and no one had wanted him.
“All the signs point that someone deliberately did this.
“Mortlake was such a nice community, but now I’m frightened.
“I always thought I could trust everyone.”
Ms Martin said the dog had been on a chain attached to his kennel shed and she doubted if he had jumped to the top of the fence himself.
“He’s more of a digger than a jumper,” she said.
Charlie was found hanging from the top of the backyard wooden fence in Townsend Street with a quilt cover over his head.
Ms Martin’s sister, Debbie Cornford from the Mornington Peninsula contacted The Standard to report the incident after her sister’s shock on returning from a family reunion to be with their ill mother.
“This is the most cruel thing I’ve ever heard of,” Ms Cornford said.
“Karen had come down to the Mornington Peninsula last Friday to see her mum who had serious kidney issues.
“Then she returned home to this shock.”
pcollins@standard.fairfax.com.au