After the body of a missing dog washed up on the banks of the Yellowstone River near Emigrant—with a bullet wound—the owners are asking the community for help identifying who's responsible.
"Every now and then, we'll think we hear them barking. Joe made the comment that he thinks he hears them, and he knows he doesn’t. And that’s really sad. It’s really sad," says Laura Clem.
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Laura Clem is a Paradise Valley resident and Gardiner business owner whose two hounds, Bandit and Boone, suddenly went missing.
"They are dependent on their owners, and when you’re not there to protect them, it’s hard. And for somebody to intentionally hurt them, it’s hard to understand," she says.
Clem says the dogs disappeared the night of January 13 while running the Sphinx Creek Trail near Corwin Springs.
Clem says, "The dogs had GPS trackers on them; the tracker went dead that night. Or were turned off."
She says that people from across the valley came to help look for Boone and Bandit but found no sign of them.
"We’d go back up and take a look and see if we could find anything. It kind of came down to us thinking they were picked up and taken," says Clem.
But two months later, the body of a hound was found by the Yellowstone River.
"So, Joe and a friend went down, and it was. It was Bandit. They got him out of the river and discovered at that point that he had been shot. And then they buried him," says Clem.
I spoke with the Park County Sheriff—who described the circumstances of the dog’s death as having possible malicious intent.
Clem explains that the area surrounding the Sphinx Creek is mostly public land and both dogs we’re identifiable with bright reflective collars.
"It was heartbreaking enough that they were missing. But to know that somebody shot them, or we know shot one—it’s unbelievable. I have a hard time wrapping my head around it," she says.
Clem says they plan to search for bullet casings in the area and hopes the community can help provide more information.
"We’ve been looking for some sort of footage, or trail cam, or security camera, that would show the old road—Old Yellowstone Trail," says Clem.
If you have any information regarding Bandit or Boone, Laura encourages you to reach out to the Park County Sheriff’s Office at (406) 222-2050.
"We’re going to keep at this. We’re not going to let it drop. If they did it once, would they do it again? Why not? And a lot of people take their dogs out there," she says.
