What do dogs do? They get into trouble, they smell and dig and chew on stuff that we don’t always want them to — but at the end of the day they’re part of the family.

Chad Stricker spent days looking for his lost dog Nymeria —  a 10-month-old wolf-dog hybrid.  She ran off one night when she was doing her usual laps around Stricker’s 10-acres of property with her brother, Ghost.

The Mississippi man asked his community for help finding her and to no surprise — a lot of people started to search. Unfortunately, one of his neighbors had already done the unthinkable and killed Nymeria.

A few days into the search, a neighbor left Stricker an anonymous note in his mailbox telling him about the tragic events that had taken place. Nymeria’s collar was included with the note.

As it turns out, the anonymous neighbor was within their legal rights to shoot the dog according to the local sheriff’s office. It was on their property, and Pearl River County, where the incident took place, has strict leash laws.

Understandably furious, Stricker said, “There should be laws to protect animal owners. No animal should be shot for going through someone’s trash.”