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Wednesday, November 13, 2024
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HOME INVASION: Three charged with assault, burglary PAGE 3
Project 365 on the move Page 3
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FOR THE FALLEN VIETNAM veteran Peter Sedgwick was among a large gathering at the Wangaratta Cenotaph on Monday for the rural city’s Remembrance Day service. Mr Sedgwick gave his time in the lead-up to the day assisting with the RSL Poppy Appeal, saying he would do anything to help the RSL in its efforts to support veterans and their families. STORY PAGE 7
Group one debut shows plenty of potential Sport
PHOTO: Kurt Hickling
WHO SHOT HONEY? Police investigate g “senseless slaughter” g of family’s y beloved p pet alpaca p
A SENSELESS killing of a beloved pet alpaca has a local family searching for answers to their grief as police investigate. Alan and Kim Sturzaker found their 15-year-old pet ‘Honey’ fatally shot on their Rose River property last Sunday morning. It occurred at around 2am, when the couple woke up to the sound of a gunshot in the distance.
BY BAILEY ZIMMERMANN bzimmermann@ nemedia.com.au
Mr Sturzaker said hunters and spot lighters regularly frequent the area, many whom he knows, and didn’t think much of the sound. “We get a lot of poachers up that way and we hear shots on a
regular basis,” he said. The pair went about their Sunday morning as any other day, until they received a phone call from a nearby resident. The caller said he had seen a heavily modified black Isuzu DMax ute stop near the Sturzaker’s paddock fence, turn off their spotlights and fire off a single gunshot at the time the Sturzakers were awakened.
Ms Sturzaker investigated the site of the gunshot to find Honey had been brutally killed. “We’re really saddened by it, we picked that animal out when the kids were little and they’ve grown up with it,” Mr Sturzaker said. “It’s a really senseless slaughter of an animal that didn’t deserve it. “It’s always tough to bury a pet, it’s terrible.” Honey the alpaca was one of two
siblings the Sturzkaer family bought some 15 years ago, with Honey’s brother, Snow, having passed away around 10 years ago after being run over by a car while the family were living in Bundalong. Mr Sturzaker said Honey was “enjoying retirement” at their weekend home at Rose River and loved hanging out with the cattle on the farm. ■ Continued page 3
Faces of Small Business Learn more in this Friday’s issue.
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