POLAND – Police with infrared equipment and a tracking dog Tuesday night arrested a 48-year-old Poland man accused of stalking his estranged wife and killing her dog.

The Maine State Police tactical team joined the manhunt as Androscoggin County Sheriff’s deputies searched for Paul Parker Jr., 48, in the woods behind the Gagne Lane home he once shared with his wife.

Parker was found about 11 p.m. roughly 200 yards into the woods behind his wife’s trailer, police said. He was charged with violating a protection order.

Police said Parker was armed with a rifle and ran into the woods after burglarizing her trailer and shooting her 16-year-old dog to death.

Parker had been arrested in recent weeks and charged him with domestic assault. A court order prohibited him from being near his wife.

Police said that on Monday night, Parker went to Gagne Lane and hid out in the woods behind the trailer occupied by his wife. At some point, police said, he snuck into the trailer, shot the Rottweiler-retriever mix dog and then fled back to the woods.

Parker’s wife was not home when the dog was shot, police said.

Deputy Tom Slivinski, who went to investigate Tuesday afternoon, found personal items in the woods that belong to Parker and began to search for him, police said.

Police considered using a tracking dog to find him, but did not begin a search of the woods by nightfall. With the woods dark and with Parker believed to be armed, sheriff’s officials called for help from the tactical team, which arrived shortly after 10 p.m.

Sheriff Guy Desjardins said the State Police team tracked Parker into the woods where they arrested him without a struggle after approximately an hour. Parker was taken to a hospital to be examined but was expected to be moved to the county jail.