Two more sad stories about police entering private property and shooting the dogs who live there.
In El Monte, California, police entered a family’s yard through a locked gate which contained a “Beware of Dog” sign. Two dogs approached and one of the officers went back outside the gate and re-locked it. The officer still inside the yard shot one of the dogs. The 2 year old dog suffered for an hour until AC arrived and brought the injured dog to a vet. The vet told the family the cost to save the dog would be $8000 and since the family was unable to pay, the dog was euthanized. There is video of the incident at the link.
The family says they had requested police call ahead of their arrival so the two dogs could be secured. Officers blamed the family for not having a “Beware of Dog” sign on the gate. The sign is clearly visible in the video. The El Monte police department has hired a PR firm to handle all inquiries about the shooting so they don’t have to answer any questions about what their officers did to this family. I wonder if the PR firm’s bill is more than $8000. (Thanks Clarice for the link.)
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In Texas, police were mistakenly serving a warrant at the home of a dog trainer when two dogs approached the officer. He fired three shots, hitting one of the dogs in the neck and missing the six year old child who was playing nearby. The warrant was for some guy the dog trainer never heard of in another town (oops) whose car registration had expired. A local animal group is collecting donations to pay for the wounded dog’s vet bills. (Thanks Chris for the link.)
I just…I don’t even know.
I suppose it won’t ever stop until PD’s are held accountable.
Shooting a dog probably makes for worse public relations than shooting a human. When will police departments start giving better training in dog aggression? One dead dog counters all the good deeds they can do in a year.
This is rotten and it happens way more often than most people realize. Seems to sop, if there is a dog, shoot it. I hate this on many levels but an important one is I have a law officer in my family. He is a good guy, he rescues dogs and would never shoot one. But the distrust and dislike that brutality towards animals and people by other officers impacts him as well. It makes his job more dangerous and makes people less likely to trust or cooperate with him. They are not only shooting when they don’t have to, they are shooting themselves in the foot.
This sort of thing happens just too often. I hope these people sue the pants off these creeps…………..cowardly creeps, I might add.
So sad. This is why I never leave my dog in the yard by himself; he only goes out when I’m out there with him. If an officer ever comes to my door, I’ll put AJ in another room and shut the door. My cats are pretty shy and run when a stranger comes to the house, so they should be safe.
I would have told the vet that the City/County would be paying for the surgery and a lawsuit would be pending! Someone higher up would have been contacted immediately like the police chief/mayor/city attorney, etc. if this was my dog that was shot.
It’s very hard to sue the government, at any level, and especially hard to sue the police and win, when the victim is “just property.” It’s nice to posture about what you “would” do, but when it really happens, you really have to think about what’s possible.
It sounds as though you’re saying this family didn’t do enough to try to save their dog, and you somehow know better or would try harder, but I don’t see your plan working out very well. There are no guarantees on the outcome of any lawsuit, and they can take years. I don’t know of any vet who would be willing to front you $8000 worth of goods and services and then wait years to maybe get paid. How could they even afford that? Not to mention that higher ups tend to be very difficult to contact directly.
I don’t know which is worse; killing innocent dogs, or killing a person who only wanted his dog to be left alone (Don Moore). Memphis is a shameless city, killing dogs and people, yet let animal abusers off scott free.
Correction: Memphis is shameful, but the administration has a shameless attitude.
Until these cops are given punishments and until the higher ups stop covering for them, this will not stop. There should be severe consequences for killing pets. In years past Animal Control officers DID NOT randomly kill every and any dog they found as a stray. They were caught and then transported. These police officers feel they are above the citizens and can kill your dog “if they are scared”, EVEN IF THE DOG IS IN AN ENCLOSED AREA OR TETHERED SO THEY CANNOT REACH THE OFFICER.
I heard a fabulous quote that really applies here. “A society is judged by how it treats those that cannot harm it”. In that case, we fail miserably as a society. As a single person we can’t do much, but as a group that continues to grow, people will take notice. Please go to change.org and sign the petition for Sara, the dog recently killed by Thornton Colorado PD. If people ban together and make politicians and government take notice they can effect change. The animals can’t stand up for themselves, so we have to. I was with Sara when she died (I’m her ‘grandma’) and I wouldn’t wish that pain on anyone. It was horrible. Please sign the petition and stop the senseless killing of our beloved family members. Thank you. DEG4 in Denver