James Bonnell charged with animal cruelty over dog shootings

A B.C. man has been charged with four counts of animal cruelty after allegedly shooting and killing two dogs in May.

James Bonnell is accused of putting the dogs into his truck in Elkford on May 1, after they had killed several of his chickens, then driving them out of town and shooting them.

• Dogs allegedly shot dead by neighbour while witness begs him to stop

At the time, the dogs' owner, Jen Bryant, posted her distress over their deaths on Facebook.

"[He]picked up our beloved fur babies and rather then call us, he proceeded to drive out of town to shoot them," she wrote.

"He shot my dogs in the face while they sat pretty wagging their tails, having no idea what was going on."

A neighbour had seen Bonnell take the two dogs a two-year-old female Labrador-cross and an eight-year-old female Rottweiler/shepherd cross followed him, and witnessed the alleged shooting, according to Bryant's post.

"After a very thorough investigation, the BC SPCA was able to gather sufficient evidence to support recommending criminal code charges in this case," Jeremy Irons from the BC SPCA said in a statement Friday.

"We feel the evidence contradicts the assertion that these dogs were killed with 'lawful excuse', the defence provision provided under the criminal code."