KNOWLTON - A Labrador Retriever and eight of her puppies were found abandoned and badly abused on a country road near Knowlton. Three of the dogs had been shot in the head with a nail gun, and two died from their injuries.
Ken France and Genevieve Sabourin rescued the dogs after getting a call from a friend who found them on the road.
"My reaction at that time was of horror, I was just horrified," Sabourin told CTV Montreal's Aphrodite Salas.
Sabourin said she was led by the mother lab through the woods to one of her pups shivering in the snow. She started petting the dog, and felt something strange on its head.
"Then I looked and I saw it was metal, two pieces of metal that had been punctured in the brain, and that's when I thought, somethings, really really wrong here," she said.
That puppy died, along with a second puppy discovered nearby in a garbage bag.
"In opening it up we found an eighth little puppy in there who died a horrific death of being shot with a nail gun," France said.
Animal protection services took all the dogs to the vet, and found the mother had a nail in her head as well. She was treated and survived.
The experience has shaken the small town of Knowlton.
Both France and Sabourin said they are struggling to understand a crime they say just doesn't make any sense.
"After the fact the horror sort of sticks with you," France said.
All of the surviving puppies have been adopted. Police are investigating to find out who abused the dogs.
