Indy, a six-year-old Siberian husky, and his owner Lori Langille. (Courtesy of family)

A devastated family in Bridgewater, N.S., is calling for a ban on snare and foot traps after their pet dog was mistaken for a coyote and shot earlier this month.

The Langille family is calling the death of Indy, a six-year-old Siberian Husky, suspicious.

"It just blew me away that someone would be that cruel," said Lori Langille.

"He wasn't going to be there to greet me at the door anymore. He wasn't going to be there at night time to curl up by my feet. He was done."

The family started searching for Indy after it ran away with their other dog Bear about a month ago.

They got an online tip that someone had “seen a dog, a husky or a coyote, on the handlebars, dead on a four-wheeler,” said Langille.

Days later a hunter confessed to the Nova Scotia Department of Natural Resources he had set a wire snare to trap coyotes and shot and killed Indy thinking it was a coyote.

Indy and Bear. (Courtesy of family)

"They should know the difference between a coyote and a dog before they do that stuff," Langille said.

Indy wasn't the first animal to be caught in a hunter’s snare in the area.

Nearby where Indy's lifeless body was spotted Karen Dorey says her dog Tiko was also caught in a snare, but she was able to save the cocker spaniel.

"I didn't know what it was at first because it goes so tight around his neck. Then he started foaming from the mouth," Doery said.

Langille said hunters should use cages that can allow pets to be released if they are accidentally caught inside.

They're still searching for Bear, a retriever-husky mix.