12 dead birds and charges filed *update 1st court date today*

[mgibbzzz]

I'm glad to hear that the Sheriff's office is still working with you to upgrade the charges. I know that someone earlier said that even good dogs will do what they are ment to do or something like that. I mean, my dad's dog just got one of ours, but I couldn't blme the dog. Now, in your case, these dogs have a long history of terrorizing your neighborhood. If you haven't already done so, ask all of your neighboors to write a letter of how these dogs have attacked their animals and how unsafe they are especially with kids in the area. Now, don't get me wrong, I love dogs, but to have a dog that you know is vicious is bad enough, but to not care that it wil do it again and keep it locked upo is another. the pups should be removed from their home. Sates states have a law that if you are in a lawsuit pertaining to vicious dogs, or if your dogs are already considered vicious, they can take the pups away from them. Just a thought.

 

[rizq]

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I completely agree! The letter thing is an awesome idea. Sometimes seeing that many people are upset over an issue will get the officials to do a bit more about it.

 

[rizq]

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Keep on squeaking!

We are all rooting for you!

Also, I'm sure you have already thought of this, but when you send your folder to the prosecutor ... be sure to keep copies! Just in case they "lose" or "don't receive" them!

 

[Skyrider]

Quote:
Keep on squeaking!

We are all rooting for you!

Also, I'm sure you have already thought of this, but when you send your folder to the prosecutor ... be sure to keep copies! Just in case they "lose" or "don't receive" them!

Rizq has a very good point, Jody about the copies. It jogged a long lose wire that sparked a point. Take your folder and give an identical one to the Prosecuting Attorney. Just take it to the clerk's desk and have them stamp them as received, including your own copies. NOW if they lose them, you'll have an official document you can ask the court to take judicial notice of. They cannot deny it. AND in my days, there were no costs in getting them stamped by the Clerk of the Court. Dunno about today, but it would be worth whatever, and just add the costs onto the restitution.

LOVED the pics of your chicks!

Sky~

 

[Sequin]

I am soo sorry about everything! What a nightmare and headache. Not to mention heartbreaking!!! This is a good example of people not selecting the correct breed/energy type of dog for their circumstances. Ridgebacks are awesome dogs, highly intelligent, beautiful, and serious workers. But that is just it - they Cannot sit at home locked up all day. They will go bonkers and become destructive beyond reason. A Ridgeback in the wrong hands is not a very good situation for anyone.

I do feel the owner is at fault here, because of that main reason. I do Not feel the dogs are necessarily at fault for doing what they were bred for(hunting) and for acting on natural instincts. I do not get why some dog owners seem to think that they are not responsible for their dogs Complete well being? They(dogs and pets in general) are Not humans and have their own species appropriate needs to be fulfilled and satisfied. Why don't some people Get that?!!!

Well, anyway, I am sorry again for all this that you have to go through.

 

[horsejody]

The plot thickens.

Last week I found out that the city attorney's office was not going to follow through with this properly. The attorney assigned to the case was just going to let them off with a $100 fine and not have the dogs classified as dangerous. I spoke to her until I was blue in the face. I quoted her statutes and everything. I don't think she even read the file! I say that because she said to me, "I can't charge them with that because I would need to prove that your pets didn't provoke the attack when they were killed."

I said, "You do realize that they were chickens and in their own coop, right. And you do know that 2 of the killed birds were in a large iron cage that the dogs ripped the door off to get to them, right?" She then told me she didn't know anything about chickens, and nobody told her the dogs went into the coop. If she had looked in the file she would have seen the pictures of dead birds in the coop!

I then spoke to her supervisor. That wasn't much help either. I read the statute to him that specifically said that dogs that injured, worried or killed or killed domestic animals were dangerous. I then gave him the statute that defined domestic animals as pets or livestock, including fowl. Then he said, "How can we know chickens are fowl?"

I wasn't getting anywhere. I told him I was contacting the new media (which has been sent a letter). Yesterday, I called the boss of the 2 people I talked to last week. His secretary told me that he has been out of the office due to surgery and would be back next week. Well, that explained a lot. The boss was away and the rest don't need to bother much. I told the secretary to have him call me as soon as possible next week because I had a serious complaint regarding members of his staff. Not even 15 minutes later, the man I talked to last week called me. This time he was more polite and not pretending he didn't know what fowl were. He made it sound like it was all a misunderstanding. I will give him the benefit of the doubt because it was his underling that had initially not considered the entire file and he came in the middle of it and was trying to just make me go away. Anyway, the prosecutor's office will now request that the judge deem the dogs dangerous and have restrictions on them. Gosh, I wish there was a squeaky wheel smiley. My neighbor's arraignment date is December 9 at 1:30pm. I will be there. I am the squeaky wheel. I am the squeaky wheel.

 

[Fudgie]

YOU GO GIRL!!!!! What a bunch of dingdongs!!!! They obviously don't know who they are messin' with!!!

 

[andehens]

Horsejody, you are amazing! Just hang in there, a well done file like yours will carry a lot of weight with the judge. Your persistance is bound to pay off. Eight million years ago, (well........ not THAT many) I had a case with the Industrial commission against a company that had no workmans comp, any way, the commissions attorney caught up with me on the street one day and asked how I knew what to do and I was honest and said I just kept up with it and made sure all i's dotted and t's crossed and nothing slid by. She said, yep, thats how its done and you might just win, and I did!
Keep on Squeaking!

 

[kinnip]

My word! This is starting to sound like a full time job. Good for you for staying the course. You pay those twits their salaries, they need to perform!

 

[seminolewind]

I have to hand it to you for following thru like a angry yellow jacket. This would be real important to me too, I would be devasted. What alot of trouble for the person who is the victim, and no trouble for the guilty party.