– Was completely devastated

Last Friday, Øyvind Olsen was out walking with the children in Rypefjord, a short distance from Hammerfest in Finnmark, when they were greeted by an ugly sight.

– Then we found a dead dog on the shore, he says to Dagbladet.

Olsen and the children are used to nature and the course of nature, Olsen explains, and they therefore took the sight in stride.

To the newspaper iFinnmarkwho first mentioned the find, he elaborated this.

– We use to tell the children those things. It’s better to explain, so they don’t have nightmares. We tell this by saying that death is part of life, and so it is with the life cycle. For our part, we have grown up with slaughter. We have been inside farms a lot and seen cows and sheep being slaughtered, so in that sense we are used to it.

– Strong scenes

He nevertheless warned about strong images when he described the find in the Facebook group Notice board in Hammerfest.

– If anyone is missing a dog, I found a dead one on the shore in Rypefjord. On the little that was left of fur, it looked like a gray color. White claws on the hind legs and black on the front. Still there. Can send picture if interested, are strong scenes for the delicate souls, he wrote there.

Due to the condition of the dog carcass, it was difficult to say what kind of dog it was, Olsen explains, but he has a suspicion as to what the cause of death may have been.

– It is difficult to say, but the head part of it was completely crushed, so it may look as if someone has shot it and thrown it into the sea. But you never know, says Finnmarkingen.

The world’s oldest dog has died

– Legal method

According to Olsen, it was a neighbor in the area who took it upon himself to remove the body.

Operations manager Tor Morten Noste in the Finnmark police district tells Dagbladet that they are unfamiliar with the dog.

No autopsy will therefore be performed on the dog, and the cause of death will therefore also remain a mystery.

According to the Norwegian Food Safety Authority, it is not necessarily something illegal either, if it were the case that the dog was shot in the head.

– Dog owners can euthanize their own dogs if it is carried out in a legal manner. One legal method is a shot to the brain, preferably with a shotgun, Bjørnar Stavenes, section chief in the animal welfare section, tells Dagbladet.

To be able to do this, however, it is assumed that the person carrying out the euthanasia is knowledgeable in the use of firearms, he further explains:

– It must be done at relatively close range and while the dog is calm. The dog owner must be a hunter with good shooting skills or have another background that enables him or her to use the firearm properly.

The police: – Not the way you treat a dead dog

– Ethically speaking

He also states that there is no legislation which requires that any disease or injury must be demonstrated in dogs in order for it to be permitted to carry out own euthanasia.

– No, not according to the Animal Welfare Act. But ethically speaking, healthy and well-functioning dogs should not be killed. The owner should find other solutions, for example finding a new owner who will give the dog a good life.

When asked if they experience problems or uncertainty related to the killing of animals, he can also say that there is a proposal to strengthen the law.

– Questions about this arise from time to time. When it comes to culling, the Norwegian Food Safety Authority has proposed and carried out a consultation on a new and better regulation, says the section chief.

The proposal is now under consideration by the Ministry of Agriculture and Food.