The SPCA has since made a call to the public for locals who were in the area at the time of the pet’s death to come forward with information.
Chris Purcell, an Aranui local, had owned Polar for six years before waking on Monday to a post reporting a white dog being found dead round the corner from his home.
Checking his home, he found Polar wasn’t home but discovered a hole in his fence, indicating his dog had gone for a wander.
By the time he made his way to the reported scene of a dog’s body, in a public car park behind a pharmacy on Breezes Rd, the SPCA had been and collected it.
“I got a call later in the morning, around half-nine, saying it was Polar,” said Purcell.
“The SPCA did x-rays and found he had no broken bones, so they wanted to do an autopsy to work out what happened.”
The afternoon autopsy revealed a stab wound in the dog’s abdomen, measuring 10cm by 2cm which had punctured his spleen.
It was then the SPCA confirmed it was indeed a stabbing.
“I believe it was a random attack, the SPCA went down the track that it might have been a kid on the way to school - but nobody knows.”
The scene of the dog’s death is a quiet end of the public road, according to Purcell, with “a little foot traffic” and parents dropping their kids off for school in the morning.
“He wouldn’t have barked, he’s a good boy - he would go up to anyone for a pat.”
Purcell said not knowing the circumstances of his dog’s death makes it harder to process. While he enjoyed a birthday dinner later that evening, the morning’s events slightly soured the mood.
“Definitely not something you expect to wake up to, it’s just a kick in the guts.”
SPCA Canterbury told the public in a statement on social media that Polar had suffered a traumatic injury from a sharp object, causing him to die from blood loss.
The organisation have made an appeal for information from anyone who saw something suspicious around the understood time of the death - between 5.30am and 7.30am on Monday morning.
Polar was a large white dog, the organisation said, and would have been easy to spot.
“Our thoughts go out to Polar’s family who are understandably devastated to lose their boy.”
As for Purcell, he only desires to know who was responsible for his dog’s death - calling out at the safety of his community in the process.
“I just want justice, I want this person outed in the community,” he said.
“New Zealand is chewing through crap at the moment and then stuff like this happens, it’s such a violent country now. Aranui has definitely gone downhill, it doesn’t feel like a safe community anymore.”
