Landowner Kills Dogs Killing chickens

Has anyone seen this? This has happened to us before, we had a husky come to our house and kill 2 geese 3 ducks and 8 chickens early one morning. My father in law managed to grab its collar as it was trying to drag a goose home. see article below:

Krum couple censured for killing of two huskies[/b]

Man acted within state law to protect chickens

07:27 AM CST on Thursday, December 6, 2007
By Peggy Heinkel-Wolfe / Staff Writer

KRUM — Tamela and Russell Harper came home from work Friday to find their beloved pets, Roscoe and Sophie, missing.

The pair of Siberian huskies had dug under their fence and escaped.

It had been a while since the dogs got out, Tamela Harper said. But even when they did, no one in town ever complained. The dogs were loved by the neighborhood children, too, so when they escaped the yard, Russell Harper said, they could usually find them in a couple of places.

Neither were aware that day had been the dogs’ third trip to George and Reyna Kubicek’s chicken coop, until, the couple said, George Kubicek told them that he’d shot the dogs.

The dogs were less than one-quarter mile from home.

“He told me he’d seen the dogs before, killing his chickens,” Russell Harper said.

Harper said he offered to pay George Kubicek for the chickens before he realized that the man had shot his dogs.

Kubicek told police that when he and his wife had found the dogs killing chickens in the coop Friday, he went back into the house to get his Henry Repeating Arms .22-caliber rifle and shot both of the dogs in the head.

The first time the dogs raided the coop, they killed nine hens, Reyna Kubicek said. The second time, they killed a rooster and three chicks. The third time, they were raiding nests. She counted eight dead hens, and one missing.

“Usually they just killed the chickens, and didn’t eat them,” she said. She was raising chickens for the eggs and no longer has any producing hens.

Krum Police Chief Shawn Landers said the Harpers have been critical of the police department for its handling of the situation.

“I’m sympathetic to their loss — they loved their dogs,” Landers said, but “the situation is pretty cut-and-dry.”

Texas law expressly allows a landowner to protect his livestock, domestic animals or fowls from a dog or coyote attack by killing the animal. In addition, Krum city ordinances require dogs to be on leashes.

The Harpers and their friends have contributed to MySpace pages for both dogs, questioning why the city doesn’t do more to protect pets. Some supporters have written directly to Krum City Hall.

City Hall has received a dozen complaints from as far away as New York and Canada.

Police are examining the e-mails, as some of the comments could be perceived as threatening. One e-mail writer claims that a “paw-it-forward” MySpace chain has been started.

“Your house will be googled and mapped and your phone number will be distributed, your police record is now public,” wrote Jeannie Oakley of Schenectady, N.Y. “So as you lay your heartless head on your pillow tonight, just know the list of supporters is growing every minute. Just know, Mr. Kubicek, you will never Rest In Peace.”

George Kubicek was arrested but never tried on a charge of assaulting a police officer in 2003.

He said he didn’t want to comment on the incident with the dogs, or the e-mails.

Reyna Kubicek said she understands why the Harpers are upset.

“They loved their dogs,” she said. “I love my chickens.”

this is almost all that is wrong with our society in a nutshell. no personal responsibility. in the not so distant past, if you let your dogs get out and disturb someone else's animals or property it is your fault when they catch a bullet. not the person that had to shoot them. now you are supposed to be politically correct and go hug mr dog for being misunderstood.

now all the peace loving tree huggers are going to get upset about the dogs being shot. where is the outcry over the chickens being killed? in the state of georgia a dog has more rights than a person. if i kick a man it is simple assault, a misdemeanor. if i kick a dog it is animal cruelty which charges as a felony. animals now have more protection in our state than humans do. the only animal that you can shoot without too many questions is a pit bull. but that is just because the sheep that pass for people in this country are scared of pit bulls.
michael

I can see this topic getting very hairy very quickly..

but I will just say WHY didn't the chicken owner attempt to contact the dog owner the FIRST time it happened? I agree that he's allowed to protect his chickens, but honestly he could have potentially saved the lives of the dogs AND the lives of most of his flock. Doesn't make sense that he let it happen so many times before taking some sort of action.

Just my .02 worth.

Meghan

i would have shot them the first time. if you can't keep your dog contained and it will kill livestock there are no guarantees that it wouldn't harm a person. anyone in here ever tried to get between a couple of dogs and something their intent on killing? i did once and got to spend a day in the hospital for my trouble. next time, the dog catches a bullet in the head.
michael

Yes, why didnt he try, he grabbed their collars so he wasnt scared of them, some people just hate dogs on or off their property.
Yes he had the right to shoot them, we dont have such gun laws here,not many of us have guns. we have to put up with preds, but boy sometimes i wish i had one.
I feel for the lady who loved her chickens and the owners who loved their dogs. darn shame

um, how. send a note home on their collars? in my experience, not only can it be hard to find where the dogs live, if they live anywhere, but once you do have an idea, people aren't going to admit it. IF they had been able to find the dogs owner in some strange way, they would have said, trust me, it wasn't MY dogs. must have been some other dogs.

i keep my dogs in my yard. cut and dried.

by the way, i am a tree hugger peace lover. but i still have common sense.

I feel for both sides and the one whos chicken's were killed was more the justified in doing so.

If my dog got out and was killing my neighbor's chickens and got killed because of that, I would be heart broken but I would also be heart broken over the lost chicken lives that I could have prevented if I had done a better job of containing my chicken killing dog.

Yes well said Varisha,
Sorry, in Australia, we can usually track the owners down if they have tags on the collars.

Im also a tree hugging chick too.

This happened very close to me. The dogs dug out of their yard and they showed where they had dug. I really feel for all involved because the owner of the dogs seemed very responsible. The dogs dug out without her knowing. It is a sad situation all the way around. She did not even know they were out and they were already dead. The man was definately within his rights to do what he did, but she was a responsible owner that loved her dogs and did not know they were out. Sad story.