"[That dog is] not a human being. And that dog was trespassing."

[jilln]

That idiotic quote is from an article about a couple who is suing for emotional distress and loss of companionship after their dog was shot by a jackass who was out hunting squirrels and saw their dog on his land. So... the dog isn't human but this mental giant thinks he should respect human laws anyway?

From the article:

The Scheeles' case began in July 2003, when they drove from their home in Annapolis, Md., to Vermont to watch his aunt and uncle renew their wedding vows. They planned to leave the dogs in their truck during the service.

They got to the church early, so they let the dogs loose, a violation of the leash law in Northfield, which is 10 miles south of Montpelier.

The dogs wandered into Lewis Dustin's yard. Dustin, 70, who had been squirrel hunting that day, had a combination BB and pellet gun at the ready.

<http://articles.news.aol.com/news/_a/courts-ponder-value-of-mans-best-friend/20061204032809990003?ncid=NWS00010000000001>

[svpadgham]

1. The Sheeles

Should not be allowed to own any more dogs. Oh, and the guy that shot the dog is an a-hole.

[jilln]

3. Oh please

Everyone who has dogs lets them off the leash every now and then to run around. True, they should have checked for gunhappy assholes first.

[svpadgham]

28. That may be true.

It's still irresponsible to let your pets run loose in an area you can't or apparently won't keep an eye on them.

[jilln]

36. There's nothing there to suggest that was the case.

They could have been out in the country with no or few cars around, and their dogs wandered over this guy's invisible property line.

I take mine to places like baseball fields that are at least partially fenced, or let them go in big parks where I can see for long distances. Dogs are not meant to be tied up all the time and most of us don't have yards big enough to let them run far.

Believe me, I am all for being responsible with your animals, but I don't think this case warrants charges that they were irresponsible. A letter to the editor they wrote on justiceforshadow.com (a page another poster here found) suggests they were right by the dog when it happened.

[SammyWinstonJack]

81. I don't.

:shrug: My dogs run around in my fenced backyard and even then, I watch them to make sure they don't get out.

[IA_Seth]

2. Depends on the breed...

I'm not a callous person and wouldn't shoot a dog for the hell of it, but I've also been practically treed by a dog when I was younger and if I had a gun I would have shot it.

If the dog is important to it's owners they wouldn't let it just run off.

[jilln]

4. Sorry, the link didn't show up

I fixed it. The dog was a mixed breed - not that that matters. What matters is the behavior. Obviously if the dog attacked the man he could defend himself but the article says nothing but that the dog was on his property.

[IA_Seth]

10. Yeah, agreed.

I hope I didn't imply otherwise. Nothing pisses me off more than pitbull haters! What I meant was if it were a chihuaha I wouldn't care if it was foaming at the mouth and wanted to eat me whole, I wouldn't shoot the little thing...but if it were a large breed acting aggressively it'd be a different story.

[svpadgham]

20. I'd shoot

a chihuahua foaming at the mouth out of mercy for the rabid thing.

[sui generis]

32. yer on the wrong thread here bud

the guy said he "had a problem with dogs", meaning he was fucking congenitally brain damaged and inbred and likes to shoot things.

While honesty is generally a good thing, talking about how you like to shoot dogs on a thread about some fucktard shooting a pet is kind of like talking about how you like to fuck kids on the Amber Alert thread.

It's not going to earn you a bunch of friends here.

[svpadgham]

33. It was a reply

to the other guy's post about not shooting a chihuahua foaming at the mouth. Where did I say I like to shoot dogs?

[sui generis]

37. there are several reasons a chihuahua or small breed

animal might be foaming at the mouth.

A small puppy farm pet foaming at the mouth could be having a seizure. Seizures are treatable. Could be poisoned. You can recover from poison. Could be somebody's pet. Can be returned to owner.

Shooting them just because you see foam means you like to shoot dogs. At least that's how I see it. Any excuse will do.

[svpadgham]

48. How does

being someone's pet cause a dog to foam at the mouth? Sorry, just thought I'd throw that in. I know what you meant. Anyway, I don't like shooting dogs. At least I don't think I do. I've never done it. Usually you can tell if an animal is rabid though. There's a big difference between rabid + aggressive and having a seizure. You can also die slowly and horribly from poison. Take your pick.

[sui generis]

53. yeah yeah

I know - heated discussions prompt heated replies; but I can't and won't defend the guy, not even just to play devil's advocate.

There's that "right/wrong" thing you have to test your sense of decency against in this story, and the guy's actions don't pass muster with me.

If he had stepped forward and said he was profoundly sorry and he had only meant to frighten off the dog or it was a freak accident, that's one thing. But he didn't. He meant to kill a random animal and even though I usually like to explore motive and rationale, it's pretty clear to me in this one that the guy was in the wrong.

[svpadgham]

57. I never defended

the guy that shot Shadow. That guy was a dick.

[Mabus]

60. I shot a cat once because it was rabid

I was living on a farm in south central Kansas. It was foaming at its mouth and had sores all of its body. It scared the shit out of me the first time I saw it. It tried to get into the house and tore up the bottom part of a screen door doing it. I called the farmer I was renting from and he brought down a rifle for me to use the next time I saw it. We also called county officials to let them know there was a rabid animal in the area (it was mostly a farm area but a lot of people raise cattle on the side). The next time it showed up, I made sure it was the right cat, and then shot it. I called the county animal people and let them know the cat was dead. They came out and took it to confirm it was rabid. It was.

About eight years ago I had a similar situation occur. I was living in a totally different area of the state (northeast Kansas) on the edge of a small town. I was getting ready to leave the house one day to go to classes when I saw a skunk staggering up the street. I thought it was odd, since it was broad daylight and skunks are nocturnal. It was also strange because the skunk was walking up the middle of a road. I stayed on the porch and watched it for a few minutes. A car drove by and the skunk appeared to try to attack the car. The driver almost went off the road trying to avoid it. I went in and called the police. They sent someone out right away and, after a brief stand-off, the skunk seemed to stamp its feet and then started running toward the cop. He shot it. It was rabid.

fwiw, I have nothing against skunks. They have a niche in our eco-system. Besides, I lived on the edge of town and knew that this type of thing is part of the environment I chose to live in.

I'm an animal lover. I grew up with rescued animals. We lived near a park where animals were dumped fairly regularly. I know the difference between an animal that is rabid and one that is can be saved. You're right, if an animal is rabid shoot it to 1) put it out of its misery and 2) to protect all other animals (including people) in the vicinity.

[svpadgham]

65. Thanks for sharing

Your experience. It's funny you mention the skunk. I had one (Western Spotted variety) that took up residence beneath my mobile home recently. It stayed for a while, but I think my geese ran it off. My little dogs didn't help one bit.

[Mabus]

78. We have one that lives up the block

There's a house at the end of our block that has been subdivided into three apartments. The skunk lives under the porch on the north side of the house. Our dogs give that area a wide berth and no one seems to have any problems with the skunk most of the year. It "acts up" and sprays when someone new moves into the apartment with that porch. The guy that lives there now has been there for two years and has a dog. No problems. It comes out at night and we all leave it alone.

[pscot]

5. Did the dog die?

Normally a BB wouldn't kill a dog. Or a squirrel either, for that matter.

[Botany]

8. Shot kills ....

It can kill lots of stuff. Including people.

A lot of people call the stuff in shells B.B.s.

A pellet gun can kill a squirrel too.

[IA_Seth]

11. Huh?

That isn't the point...if it were a BB gun or a Pellet it's going to piss the dog off, not kill it. Unless of course you have an ultra-high powered pellet gun and you shot the thing in the eye, and it moves just the right way, and, and, and.

BB guns don't kill people, 99.999999% of the time.

[jilln]

13. Read the article. It severed his aorta. He died.

[Botany]

18. i wasn't sure from the post if it was a pellet gun or a shotgun.

The make some wicked high power pellet guns too.

.17 caliber that use CO 2 cartridges and that can shoot a dart or b.b. that
can do some real damage .... hit the neck or miss a rib and it's into a lung.

I had a blond lab that had a b.b. that got through his hip because of some asshole.

The dog lived but I saw the X rays .... went clean through his hip bone.

[NickB79]

22. A BB from a shotgun shell is moving over twice the speed of a BB gun

And it brings a lot of friends with it, several hundred to be precise. They are really not comparable, as this was either a) a pure luck shot on the part of the shooter, or b) the dog wasn't moving and was really close to the shooter, meaning it was no threat to him and he had no justification to shoot in the first place.

[Botany]

31. it killed the dog.

They have .17 caliber pellet guns that use CO 2 cartridges.

Any way you look @ it the guy was a dick.

[NickB79]

40. No argument there

Total dick move on that guy's part.

[TangoCharlie]

19. Not your ordinary Daisy bb gun

The article called it a combination bb/pellet gun. If he was hunting squirrels, it probably was not a low-powered target gun, but one that can push a lead pellet near the speed of sound. Shot into the right (or wrong, depending on perspective) spot, it can certainly kill a dog.

This case has plenty of stupidity to go around.

[FlaGranny]

51. When I worked in a hospital,

a child came in who had been accidently shot in the head with a pellet gun. He died.

[Sapere aude]

6. This is going to be one of the 100 or so reply threads. Dog lovers and others take sides now!

Me I like dogs, I have six of them, along with three cats and two horses. I could not shoot someone's dog for coming on my property. I think it is a very bad thing to do. Dogs don't think like we do.

Here doggie doggie, BLAM!

[maxsolomon]

7. was it an armed lesbian pitbull?

then this thread won't get to over 100 replies.

asshole old man should be picketed by all the surrounding dog owners.

[sui generis]

25. erm, how would you know if she was an unarmed lesbian pit bull

She could be hiding a gun anywhere! Look at that big slobbery face! She's so cute. I think she just ate my cat.

[maxsolomon]

80. that is cute, but i'd be more likely to shoot that

than this:

[svpadgham]

50. He'll probably

shoot their dogs.

[sui generis]

17. there always one or two dumbasses who need attention

who start pissing and moaning about how the dog deserved it, right here on DU. The single worst thing you can do is ignore them.

Me, I think that guy just likes to shoot things. The only reason he doesn't shoot humans is because they don't usually run around on all fours. Just as soon as they make huntin' humans legal though, and if it said so in the babble, he'd be bagging him some wedding party too.

Inbreeding. It's not just for breakfast any more. (cue banjos, theme from deliverance)

[judaspriestess]

9. asshole must be a cheney lover

maybe they should hunting together.

[The Stranger]

12. Shooting the dog for trespass constitutes unreasonable force.

It is not a defense to felony animal abuse, illegal discharge of a weapon, disturbing the peace, or any other charge a good prosecutor can press.

[SoCalDem]

14. Poor dog Two to blame..the evil man who shot him and the

ones who let him "run loose".

If you truly love your pets NEVER let let run loose".. You just never know what will/could happen when they are not with you. :cry:

they are smart, and have strong instincts, but they are about as intelligent as a toddler and have few impulse controls..

Would you let your toddler "run loose"?

[sui generis]

34. neither

I wouldn't let them run loose or shoot a dog on my backwater deliverance trailer in a mud puddle property.

Our kids "run loose" too, yet we don't worry about civilized people shooting them, and they often have even less impulse control than a toddler. Why should it be different for what is clearly a well groomed pet?

That guy was a neanderthal; one of those sociopaths that "pass" among us.

[SoCalDem]

38. being a "well groomed" pet will not stop a nutcase from shooting it if he wants to.

:(

There are people out there who will go out of their way to kill an animal.. and if yours is running loose, you never knwo when or if they will meet up with a creep like that. It;s too late after it happens:cry:

[sui generis]

46. that's true, but my point is this guy has some

bizarre artificial rationale that he's using to limit his shooting to animals. It's not a deeply held humanistic principle; just a loophole that lets him shoot critters.

But we have a weird correlation to that. We lament that an animal running loose could be shot and that's acceptable and even the owner's fault, while we are horrified of what a predator might do to a human child, and never ever blame the parents even when they personally drop their kids off at Neverland (figuratively speaking).

Yes, there are neanderthals among us, driving the same roads, in the checkout line at the grocery store with us, and the scariest part is they mostly look and walk and talk just like us.

[SoCalDem]

55. I actually DO blame parents who dropped their kids off at Neverland

and who "look the other way" when the signs are there that their child is being abused..

we all have to look out for critters and kids :hi:

[svpadgham]

56. Blame...

I blame parents all the time.

[China_cat]

64. Being a well groomed pet in your own fenced yard

with a lock on the gate won't stop some people. Around here it was a cop with a jones for large dogs. He had killed 4 on the day I walked out my front door to find him parked in front of my house with his gun out the window pointed at my dogs. The complaints I filed put him under notice that anything happening to my dogs would find him in a world of shit but he did go on to kill 2 more before they finally fired his ass.

[sui generis]

74. wow.

If a cop pointed a gun (much less shot) at my dogs in my back yard and had no police business reason to be in front of my property or to be trying to access the premises without the owner present, which he wouldn't, that cop had better be shooting to kill and burn the house with my cooling corpse in it afterwards, for his own safety.

There are some events that are better deterred than suffered through in sorrow though. I'm glad you caught him; how he passed his i-psych profile is astonishing though.

[NickB79]

15. I've had to shoot dogs before, and it is a depressing task

There were plenty of times when the neighbor's dogs came wandering into our yard on the farm. They'd play with our dogs, we'd give them a bit of food, and they'd wander back to their own farms. If any of them chased our cats, they'd get a BB in the ass from a low-power BB gun that wasn't powerful enough to break the skin (at least, it didn't break my skin when my friend shot me with it) but that's it. Only when they were causing actual damage, such as attacking cattle or one of our puppies, would I have to break out the rifle, and it is not a fun task to tell the neighbors you had to shoot their dog.

If he wasn't in fear of his life and the dog wasn't damaging his property, this guy is just a dick that likes to shoot things. The fact he was using a BB/pellet gun to hunt squirrels makes me think even less of the guy, as these guns are usually woefully underpowered for small game hunting and wound more than they kill. A true adult air rifle powerful enough to humanely hunt squirrels doesn't accept BB's, only pellets.

[jilln]

21. So you would encourage them to come over by giving them food,

then when they acted like dogs you'd shoot them? I find that incredibly sick. Maybe you should have insisted your neighbors keep them out of your farm, or maybe you should have protected "your" cattle.

Funny, there are stray dogs everywhere where I live and I've never found it necessary to shoot any of them.

[NickB79]

35. No, we did not encourage them

They would come over and eat food out of the dog dish that was left for our other dogs. We didn't "bait" them to come over. Working from sunrise to past sunset, you don't have time to watch the dog's food bowl 24 hours a day to chase away dogs that are not your own. You just accept the fact that you have to throw a little more food in the bowl the next day to make up for the extra eaten.

"Maybe you should have insisted your neighbors keep them out of your farm, or maybe you should have protected "your" cattle."

Farmers do not put their dogs on leases, at least on every farm I have ever been on. Dogs are just as much a tool as a pet on a farm, needed to keep weasels and foxes away from the henhouse at night, to keep rabbits and racoons out of the garden, and to bark to alert you when something was wrong. Leashing a dog would defeat all of these purposes, so no farmers do it. If you have any suggestions as to how to allow a dog to fulfill it's role as a protector of the farm yet remain leased or confined, I am open to ideas.

As to "protecting" the cattle, we put up fences, both barbed and electric. What, do you think we let cattle roam wild across the county? When a pack of stray dogs digs under the fence and begins to rip the legs of a calf or cow apart (which I have seen several times), your only alternative is to shoot them. Good cattle cost several thousand dollars each, and are the lifeblood of a small family farm. Do you honestly expect us to simply stand by as the dogs kill one? Or, how about the time the neighbor's German Shepard grabbed one of our puppies by the head, PIERCED IT'S EYE WITH ONE OF HIS TEETH, and began shaking it back and forth? Shall I let that dog proceed to kill that puppy?

[jilln]

39. Then maybe you keep your dogs' food INSIDE.

How about keeping puppies inside?

And if you believe dogs' roles are protectors of farms, did you pay your neighbors for the destruction of their farm equipment?

Sorry, you're not going to find much sympathy for killing animals - whether for sport or for money - with me.

[NickB79]

44. No, we did not pay them

Because if they insisted on being compensated for the loss of their dog, they knew we would demand them cover the vet bills that were needed to stitch up our cattle. Instead of taking each other to court, we called it even and the neighbors stayed friends. When a calf did die several years ago, the farmer did compensate us $100. The calf was worth $200, but he subtracted the value of his dog, which we considered fair.

"How about keeping puppies inside?"

Then the mother dog would have to be kept inside as well to nurse and care for them, which again would defeat the purpose of having a dog to guard the farm. And in our particular case, the puppy was a Collie/German Shepard mix that was already 20 lbs when the neighbor's 100 lb German Shepard picked it up. Do we keep the puppies inside until they're large enough to fend off an attack by an adult dog?

"Then maybe you keep your dogs' food INSIDE."

Again, when you are working all day long, you don't have time to be running to the house whenever your dog is hungry and whimpering at the door. Put the dog's food inside, and then go out to work in the field for 8 hours straight, or worse go spend the entire day working on rented property several miles away, and your dog will be a bit upset when you come back home.

[BlackVelvet04]

73. A lot of people don't understand

the difference in a pet and a working dog. They don't understand the difference in living in the country and living in the suburbs or city.

I agree with you.....the dog attacks the livestock, the dog dies.

The dog attacks a child, the dog dies.

I don't condone the man in this particular story killing the dog just because it wandered onto his property.

But I would like to address those with pets: Keep them off others property. That includes cats. I've had a piece of expensive porch furniture destroyed by the neighbors cat. I don't own a cat, never have and I don't want one on my front porch destroying my furniture. If I wanted a cat I would buy one.

[AtomicKitten]

16. The existing law will prevail.

The man has been prosecuted under existing law and the civil suit will be dealt with accordingly. The perpetrator was probably a crotchety old fart and shooting the dog seemed perfectly within the realm of normal and reasonable in his world. Yikes.

My dog is a pitbull mix and I ALWAYS keep her on a leash because although she has never given me reason to be concerned, she's a rescue from an abusive past and I can't be sure what she will do when provoked or intimidated.

As a dog lover, I feel it is their human counterpart that is responsible for their furry friend's wellbeing. Having always lived at the beach, I can't tell you how many times havoc has ensued when people allow their dogs to run amuck. Such a tragic ending could have been avoided had the couple walked the dogs on a leash.

[wicket]

23. Gorgeous pets

That picture warms my heart :hug:

[AtomicKitten]

29. thanks!

And proof-positive that pitbulls can indeed become very loving creatures, overcoming adversity and cruelty in their past life. It just takes training, patience and perseverance.

[wicket]

82. Absolutely

It's definitely the training that makes all the difference. My friend used to raise Rots, and hers were some of the most kind, gentle animals I'd ever seen from another much-maligned breed.

I have a tiger cat too so I'm also very partial to those hehehe ;)

[Der Blaue Engel]

41. I agree about the leashing

I had a dog once who was terrified of strange people and dogs, and would lunge threateningly at them, although he never bit anyone. I always kept him on a leash because I didn't want him or anyone else getting unintentionally hurt.

One day at the beach, a couple had two large dogs running freely around them, and the dogs naturally ran up to my dog to check him out. He responded in fear, and they responded in dominant attack mode. It was a very scary experience, screaming at these dogs and trying to get my dog away from them as they attacked him. Then the owners came up and yelled at ME, for leashing my dog! "He wouldn't be so aggressive if you let him off the leash!" The woman was lucky that I have a thing about following reasonable laws, or I would have beaten the shit out of her.

[jilln]

45. That's crazy.

I hope you and your dog were both OK.

I had a similar experience once - I was walking mine on leashes when a woman's dog came running across the street at us, barking. He wasn't trying to attack, but while trying to keep my dogs from going into the street after him, the leash got wrapped around my finger and broke it. Then the woman scooped up her dog and went back inside. After I put my dogs back in the car I knocked on her door and showed her how my finger was bending to the side thanks to her dog who was loose and she said it was MY fault for walking the dogs on the leashes!!!

Long story short, I ended up having to have surgery to straighten the finger, nearly $1200 after insurance and it was impossible to sue the woman because she didn't own the house.

Our laws in this area are inadequate.

PS - Gotta love Betty Blue.

[AtomicKitten]

52. that IS crazy

People have such a bizarre idea of the purpose of leashes. Beaches are ground zero for this kind of irresponsible behavior.

Dogs off-leash do some really unbelievable stuff. I was visiting a good friend in Paradise CA and she let her two perfectly normally behaved dogs run off-leash and they started killing a neighbor's chickens. Apparently two is enough for pack mentality to kick in.

[China_cat]

68. On the farm I grew up on, it didn't matter what or who the

dog belonged to, a chicken killer got just one thing...a bullet in the brain. And yes, it sounds harsh but you don't live less than half a mile from a chicken farm running several thousand pullets at a time and stand for a chicken killer.

You'd just have to live and work on a farm to understand the dynamic. There's no time for behavior modification or special training or any of the other things you have the leisure and money for when they are just pets. They kill, they die. I watched my mother shoot her favorite rabbit dog the day he came home with a dead chicken in his mouth. You just do what you have to.

[jilln]

70. How ironic.

[China_cat]

75. You evidently don't understand hunting dogs

They RUN the game, point it out or retrieve it after it's down. They don't eat it. They don't even get a taste of the blood.

[svpadgham]

69. It doesn't even require two.

When I was a kid we had an Irish Setter (Bandy). She was an awesome dog. We also had chickens. One day while feeding the baby chicks, one of then hopped out of the cage and started to jet. Bandy was quick to snatch it up and squish it. I won't get too graphic, but it was "memorable" for a little kid. She never chased any of our other chickens, but I guess it was just an instinct that kicked in. Or maybe she thought she was helping.

[svpadgham]

59. Is it just me

or does every cat "owner" on the planet have that same cat? Either that one or the orange and white striped one.

[AtomicKitten]

61. you've discovered the grey tabby conspiracy

My Renfield is another person's Fluffy or Boots or Muffin.

[svpadgham]

66. My step mother's

was "Tigger"

[AtomicKitten]

67. BTW

Welcome to DU!

[svpadgham]

71. I've been here

for two years. I usually just don't post anything. It seems I'm on a roll today. Thanks anyway. It'll probably take me ten more to get to the 1000+ club.

[AtomicKitten]

77. ooops

Just looked at your profile. You are one of the smart ones that isn't mesmerized by idle chatter on the internets! Hey, don't be a stranger!

[wicket]

24. More info on Shadow here:

Justice for Shadow

[JacksonWest]

26. What kind of A-hole shoots a dog that poses no threat to him?

This is why I have a problem with a lot of hunters-especially the Cheney types. It's about killing. Not about nature, or actual "hunting". A real hunter wouldn't be killing squirrels, and certainly wouldn't shoot a domesticated dog(that posed no threat).

[svpadgham]

62. I guess you've

never had squirrel fritters? Me neither, but my wife just told me that her dad used to make squirrel gravy. I think in the Appalachian states KY, TN, etc. is where most squirrel hunting is done. It was probably a survival thing at first, and then the recipe just got handed down.

[Porcupine]

76. A farmer kind of idiot and they're right to do it.

I've lived in dairy and sheep country. The local farmers made it very clear that unfamiliar dogs on their land would be shot on sight. Your local dairyman or sheep rancher does not have the time to figure out if you're dog is going to be the one that ran his cattle last week or is going to maul his sheep tomorrow. He will take the first clear shot at an unknown dog.

People who have lived in farm country long enough will frequently engage in this practice even if they currently have no livestock. It's better in their minds to shoot some yuppie's dog that to help a neighbor load dead livestock for a trip to the knackers.

Dogs, ALL DOGS, are genetically identical to wolves. They will engage in hunting behavior around unfamiliar animals unless taught not to. I have had several queensland heelers and I have to teach then NOT to hunt unless allowed.

If you take your dog into farm country keep them on a leash and close to you unless you are damned sure you have good voice control. The local farmers really don't care what you think. They will shoot your dog.

[Bake]

27. The law considers a dog property.

Hence, no action at law for "wrongful death" of an animal. No action for "loss of companionship." The most one can recover is the dollar value of the dog.

You can argue whether that OUGHT to be the law. But not about what the law is. Unless it's changed in some states since I left law school.

Bake, Esq.

[Bake]

30. One thing I do like, however, is creative lawyering

One could certainly argue that executing another's beloved pet right before their eyes IS intentional infliction of emotional distress (upon the pet's owner). I don't know whether a court has ever ruled on that. Personally, I'd love to make that argument to an appellate court.

Bake, Esq.

[Buck Rabbit]

47. Oregon family that sued for more than $1 million for loss of dog gets $56,000

Neighbor ran the dog over with his truck (several times) in front of the children who owned it.

http://network.bestfriends.org/legalanimal/news/4505.html

[Bake]

63. Interesting case but doesn't make new law

A trial judge's decision can be persuasive but not binding precedent. I'll have to check Westlaw/Lexis and see if an appeals court has decided the issue as a matter of law. According to the story you linked (thanks, by the way!), the defendant wasn't inclined to appeal the verdict.

By the way, I agree with the result in that case wholeheartedly!

Bake

[baby_mouse]

42. Good Lord...

:-O

[TahitiNut]

43. I wonder how people in this thread would react if it were cats let loose.

:popcorn:

:hide:

[sui generis]

49. yeaaa aaaa aaaaaaaa aaaa aaaaaargh!!!!!!

you hadda go there.

hey you got a beer?

:popcorn:

[Sapere aude]

58. I think a there are a lot less kittie lovers than dog lovers.

I use to let my cats run loose. They never went too far. Now I live were there are too many animals that would kill the cats so they stay inside. I don't see the need to kill something that people have. Sometimes I blame it on the bible where it says that God gave man dominion over all the creatures of the earth. We interpret that to mean God gave us the right to go kill animals if it is for sport or if we feel justified like a stray dog or cat shitting on our newly seeded lawn.

[SoCalDem]

72. you rascal..

My kitties stay inside.:) But I know how many people think it's ok to let them roam.. Mine roam.. all over the inside of my house..and none have been hit by a car, shot at, bitten, chased etc..

If you cannot keep a pet inside, don;t call it a pet.:grr: Even "big dogs" get cold ..

[slackmaster]

54. I shot a neighbors' dog once - very lightly, no injury

My stupid neighbor refused to keep her dog confined to her yard. It kept coming into mine and tearing up vegetation. Because I was renting, the city's Animal Control people wouldn't give me the time of day.

The final time I confronted my neighbor, she said "I can't control him."

That was it.

I used a low-velocity BB, hitting the adult male German Shepherd in the butt. The shot was so light it didn't get through the fur. The dog ran home yelping, and I never saw it again.

If a dog is smarter than its owner, your best bet is to reason with the dog. Deadly force is appropriate only if the animal poses a real threat.

[zanne]

83. You could be a poster boy for gun control.

One good reason for more regulation on gun ownership, even bee=bee guns. Irresponsible people who can't control their tempers. I don't give a shit what that dog did to your vegetation; you had no right to shoot him. What if somebody shot one of your kids for ruining their vegetation?

[slackmaster]

84. My temper played no role whatsoever in the incident

...you had no right to shoot him.

Yes I did - for depredation. That's a common law concept. I had tried repeatedly to work the problem out with the dog's owner, and with the city. My one shot CURED the problem and did NO HARM.

What if somebody shot one of your kids for ruining their vegetation?

Logically speaking, that is a Red Herring fallacy: You are attempting to introduce an irrelevant issue in order to distract attention from the actual topic. Your subject line is argumentum ad hominem BTW.

[MazeRat7]

79. Oh this one is easy... Burn down Lewis Dustin's house....

Then kill him, kill his friends, and then kill anyone that has ever known him....

(now before all you self-righteous folk get 'yer panties in a wad) that was a quote (paraphrased) from the Eastwood movie "The Unforgiven".

All that aside... if he had shot my dogs... he would have wished he had not.

Oh yeah... And I eat/drink soy products.

MZr7