From time to time, businesses need to handle damage control. This is one of those times.

As some of you may have heard via Facebook, due to a series of extremely unfortunate events, Andy took the lives of his neighbor’s dogs.

The start of the story: the loss of a pregnant goat.

The story begins on Friday.

Andy, his girlfriend Jamie, Spencer, and Matt were all loading up their vehicles to travel to the new Florida Gun Supply location in downtown Inverness. (We are now located in downtown at 118 North Pine Avenue in Inverness.)

Andy was carrying a big heavy TV with no access to his gun when his girlfriend Jamie yelled, “There’s a dog attacking a goat!”

Andy set the TV down as quickly as he could, drew his Smith & Wesson, and charged over to where the goats were.

Andy did not get a look at the dogs, but his girlfriend did.

The goat died of it’s injuries later that day.

Retribution: Andy’s determination to take revenge on the coyotes

Andy was clearly pretty upset with the loss of this goat. He called his neighbor, who later informed Andy that he believed his dogs (Huskies) were at home during the attack, and that Andy probably had a coyote problem.

Every time Andy wasn’t working, sleeping, or eating, he was in his hunting stand, waiting for these coyotes to come back.

Success: Coyotes responded to Andy’s decoy

After 11 hours of hunting, Andy finally saw to coyotes roll up and charge at his decoy. He took them both our with an AR15 with open sights – no scope – from 50-75 yards away. At the time, they were up to their shoulders in dark, muddy water, covered in mud, and in some pretty heavy brush.

Nonetheless, they charged the decoy in an extremely aggressive manner.

The shots were clean, and the dogs did not suffer.

The Realization

Shortly after Andy killed the two coyotes, he called his neighbor to inform him that there were 2 less coyotes in the neighborhood to deal with.

It was then that the neighbor also informed Andy that his dogs were missing.

Andy realized he had shot his neighbor’s dogs, and his heart broke.

He called the police, who came over in a hurry – along with animal control. They BOTH confirmed that these dogs could be easily mistaken for coyotes – especially at 50-75 yards and open sights.

The Aftermath

On Monday morning, Andy’s business got flooded with emails and phone calls from angry people who demanded to know why he shot his neighbor’s dogs.

Here’s the bottom line of the situation:

1. There is nearly 100% certainty that these dogs killed Andy’s pregnant goats. Even knowing that, Andy would never have shot his neighbor’s dogs over a goat.

2. Other neighbors repeatedly claimed that these dogs were also being aggressive and injuring their livestock, with one claiming these dogs would chase his cows “3 times a week.”

3. These dogs were getting out very frequently.

4. These dogs were on Andy’s property.

5. These dogs were mistaken for coyotes.

It’s such a lose-lose situation.

Andy’s message to the owners of the dogs:

“Words cannot express my condolences to you and your family. I cannot begin to imagine the heartbreak that you feel in regards to your pets. Here’s the fact of the matter: A pregnant goat with 2 foals who was ready to give birth was attacked by two K9s and killed last week. I spent a total of 11 hours throughout the week in a tree stand trying to protect my flock from coyotes. The two dogs came in, and they were about 50-75 yards away. I did not have a scope – I hunt with open sights, so there was no magnification. I called the cops when I learned they were my neighbors dogs, and the cops told me that the dogs also looked like coyotes and that they would have taken the shots as well. Further, my girlfriend (who saw the goat attack) positively verified with 100% certainty that these were the “coyotes” she saw attack and kill our pregnant goat. She made this identification BEFORE we knew they were your dogs. I don’t think these dogs “deserved” to die in any way, and I would gladly sacrifice ALL of my goats if it meant we could have these dogs back. I’m so sorry, Stefanie, and I hope you can forgive me in the distant future. Until then, please be respectful and don’t make me out to be a terrorist who shot your dogs to be spiteful. Nothing is further from the truth.”

Huskies VS Coyotes: Would you know the difference in the same circumstances?