Mississippi man finds note saying his missing dog was killed A Mississippi man searching for his missing dog was left an anonymous note that said his dog had been killed and that he should abide by the county leash law

OZONA, Miss. -- A Mississippi man searching for his missing dog was left an anonymous note that said his dog had been killed and that he should abide by the county leash law.

“I’m sorry to inform you that your dog was shot and killed Saturday night while digging through my garbage,” the anonymous note said, according to The Sun Herald. “It did not suffer and I did not take pleasure in killing It. There is a county leash law which you should abide by so that I do not have to kill any more of your pets.”

Chad Stricker had already spent several days searching for his 10-month-old wolfdog named Nymeria when he found the note and Nymeria's collar in his mailbox this month. Her large yellow collar featured an over-sized tag that included her photo, owner's address and number and a description of her personality.

“I was sick to my stomach,” Stricker said. “To think that someone killed her while we had been out looking for her, for digging in the garbage ... An animal is not worth more than your trash or the time to make a phone call?”

But such a shooting isn't uncommon, said Elizabeth Treadaway, the shelter manager Pearl River County SPCA.

“Unfortunately we see that a lot,” Treadaway said. “This dog lost its life over an invisible line it can’t see. As soon as an animal goes onto someone else’s property, that leash law goes into effect. But just because it’s law, doesn’t make it right what this person did.”

The leash law in Pearl River County requires all animals to be fenced in or restrained on a leash, even if the owners are not within city limits.

Stricker says Nymeria's body wasn't returned to him.

“He dumped the collar and the letter, I wish they would have left the body to give me some kind of closure,” he said.