General News
31 July, 2023
Jez's shattered serenity
I JUST can’t fathom it - words repeated over and over by Jez Kalloway since his pet Jack Russell terriers Sassy and Buzz jumped into a ute travelling a quiet Loddon bush road. The dogs “always keen for adventure” were later found dumped, dead...
I JUST can’t fathom it - words repeated over and over by Jez Kalloway since his pet Jack Russell terriers Sassy and Buzz jumped into a ute travelling a quiet Loddon bush road.
The dogs “always keen for adventure” were later found dumped, dead, 6km away beside the Wimmera Highway.
“They were with me in the yard where I had a fire burning, they heard a car door open and ran down ... I saw their little legs jumping in and the ute speed off,” said Jaz on the verandah of his Moliagul home a week after the Sunday morning dog snatch.
“They loved adventure. If they heard me jingle the car keys, they were beside themselves.
“I still can’t fathom it,” Jez says again. “We live right at the end of a road and we’re lucky to see a couple of cars a day ... people don’t have a reason to come on this road.”
Leading Senior Constable Mick Balazs, of Bridgewater police, says: “There was no need to kill them. There’s no rhyme or reason as they weren’t stolen to breed or to keep someone company.”
He arranged for the RSPCA to collect the bodies of Sassy and Buzz from Jez’s home on Monday. An autopsy will be determine the cause of death.
Senior Constable Balazs is continuing investigations and has again called
for public assistance in finding a white utility that may have been used
in the dog snatch. “It’s really concerning that something like this has happened. I have never struck it before,” he said.
Jez moved to Moligaul from Geelong three years ago for the serenity of bushland overlooking Kooyora State Park. “It’s a beautiful place for solitude.”
“I got Sassy soon after for company and then Buzz six months ago,” he said.
Thanks to friends, Jez already has a new companion. He’s called the Jack Russell terrier Nuggy. “That’s short for nugget and hoping I might find (a gold) one, one day,” Jez said.
And Senior Constable Balazs has also told Jez of an offer of a pup from a litter born last week in Avoca.
“There’s a bit of light at the end of the rainbow,” Jez said, cradling his
new friend Nuggy.