{"id":38170,"date":"2026-05-14T14:08:19","date_gmt":"2026-05-14T18:08:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=38170"},"modified":"2026-05-14T14:08:48","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T18:08:48","slug":"residents-rally-for-justice-after-dogs-death-during-animal-control-call","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/residents-rally-for-justice-after-dogs-death-during-animal-control-call\/","title":{"rendered":"Residents rally for \u201cjustice\u201d after dog\u2019s death during animal control call"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Dozens descended on Aurora Town Hall on Saturday rallying for \u201cjustice\u201d following the death of a dog during an animal control call in East Gwillimbury.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last week, photos and video of a rottweiler called Heiniu lying on the pavement with blood appearing to have come out of its mouth, sparked a wave of anger, calls to action, and questions many say remain unanswered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Town can confirm that Animal Services responded to a call involving two dogs at large on May 4 in East Gwillimbury,\u201d said the Town of Aurora in a statement. \u201cDuring efforts to safely secure one of the dogs, an officer sustained a bite injury requiring medical attention. Due to escalating safety concerns and the presence of bystanders, Animal Service Officers contacted York Regional police for assistance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThroughout the incident, staff attempted to safely call, care for, and secure the dog while protecting public safety. The dog later became medically unresponsive and transported to a veterinary clinic. This was a difficult and upsetting incident for everyone involved, including staff, witnesses, and the owners. The Town is reviewing the incident and a full investigation is underway.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among those calling for both answers and justice is Holland Landing resident Michelle Sanders, who attended the rally with Heiniu\u2019s family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sanders says she and her daughter corralled the two dogs running at large outside their home and ultimately called Animal Control.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s a call she says she\u2019s come to regret.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She says that, in her observation, Heiniu was not aggressive, but became distressed as Animal Control officers struggled to get him in the vehicle with catch poles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was in her driveway that Heiniu passed and each day since the May 4 incident she has been \u201cpraying for rain\u201d to help wash the remaining blood from her driveway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been beyond overwhelming,\u201d says Sanders of both the incident and the mounting calls for answers since details were first shared through the Humane Initiative. \u201cWe are the absolute biggest animal-loving family you\u2019ll ever meet [and] this is the worst possible thing that could happen to my family \u2013 in my driveway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI still have blood on my driveway. I have to relive this every single day of my life \u2013 every moment, every time I walk my dogs past that spot, it\u2019s been so overwhelmingly painful that there\u2019s days I don\u2019t know what to do with myself. I have to bend over and literally try to breathe properly because I don\u2019t know what to do. I work from home and I pray for days that it\u2019s raining just so I don\u2019t have to walk my dogs and I don\u2019t have to walk outside. I\u2019m praying for rain to help clean some of this blood off the driveway because there was so much and the smell was so strong. I was just trying to help them and do the right thing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sanders stresses the movement that has resulted from the incident is not about her, but the quest for truth and justice for Heiniu and his humans, and to ensure similar cases don\u2019t happen in the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAt the end of the day, that beautiful dog died on my driveway and I have to live with that. Some days I don\u2019t know how to get past this, but I do know I will fight and continue to fight to spread awareness,\u201d she says. \u201cI don\u2019t want the negativity. I don\u2019t want their lives threatened. That does not bring enjoyment to me. I want [those responsible] to be held accountable for their actions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For more on animal control in East Gwillimbury, visit www.eastgwillimbury.ca\/en\/government\/animal-control.aspx.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Brock Weir
Editor
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter<\/strong><\/p>\n\r\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dozens descended on Aurora Town Hall on Saturday rallying for \u201cjustice\u201d following the death of a dog during an animal control call in East Gwillimbury. Last week, photos and video of a rottweiler called Heiniu lying on the pavement with blood appearing to have come out of its mouth, sparked a wave of anger, calls […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":38171,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38170","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/2026-05-14-10.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-9VE","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-21 16:44:25","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38170","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38170"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38170\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38172,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38170\/revisions\/38172"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38171"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38170"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38170"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38170"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}