accused of killing neighbor's chickens

[azjustin]

Depending on state/county laws, you could be liable criminally or civilly. A "he said, she said" in criminal court means absolutely nothing without clear cut evidence and is mostly laughable with circumstantial proof.

On a civil front: If my chickens were killed tonight after reading this post and I decided to engage a lawyer who would take the case, I could sue you. Doesn't mean I would win, have a day in court, or ever even talk to a judge. But I could sure make you spend a LOT of money in replies, court orders, etc., before we ever got to see a judge. It's called "lawyering someone to death".

And if for some reason I was able to receive a judgement against you, I would still have to pay more money and convince another judge that I could actually collect $$ against you. This process is typically more involved in the ones above!

Point being: the term "Sue Me!" (in mocking) actually has a lot of merit since going after someone in a civil suit means virtually nothing unless you have a strong case and a large bank account to back you up.

Livestock is a completely different matter, but I have ended many conversations with (lawyer approved): "I appreciate your concern, but without some sort of actual proof of your claims you will need to retain legal counsel and consult my own". If you tell the accusatory neighbors the same, it will more than likely further irritate them, but make them understand that you know your rights and are willing to defend them. Engaging them past that only opens you to more animosity and conflict in my experience. However, focuses the lines (from their perspective) of what I think, and what I think I saw.

Sorry for being so vague, but just my 2c.. Worth as much as you paid.

 

[Redneek]

Take pictures.

 

[Percheron chick]

It definitely isn't impossible for a single dog to injure a horse. I have a friend who had a pair of Clydesdales panic rather than defend themselves, and sustain serious injuries (mainly to their legs) from a single Rottweiler, until his spunky little Morgan/Wesh pony mix came to the rescue. The pony was able to push it back from the big horses enough for the owner to take a safe shot at it. A neighbor had her own Jack Russel damage the muzzle of her quarter horse, which was further injured panicking and crashing into the fence at a dead run. That incident happened and was over very quickly, but the horse never fought back against that dog either. A horse is generally quite capable of handling a dog, but it isn't always their first instinct.

I think the most thing for the OP to do is make sure his dog is not running loose again. It is the best way to protect himself and his dog. Even if you would stake your life on your dog having zero prey drive, the neighbor and their animals don't know that and shouldn't be stressed out by your animals visiting. Fortunately, it would be awfully hard for them to prove in court it was your dog, but it does help their case if they can prove it repeatedly was coming onto their property. Hopefully your dog is innocent and the real culprit is found out.

I won't disagree that dog(s) will happily chase horses if the situation is right and the horses run which can result in expensive and devistating injuries if they are run through a fence. The neighbor is alledging that the dog attacked the horse. Big difference. It helps the OP to understand typical dog/horse incidences if confronted by the neighbor and have an answer for his charges.

 

[Folly's place]

I have treated a couple of horses that were attacked by dogs; one horse, one dog. Ugly! It's definitely possible, and never good. Mary

 

[limited25]

Do you know if the dogs weighed more than 35 lbs?

 

[old mcdanold]

and a opossum will kill as many birds as it can catch and drag them away one at a time had it happen in ill

 

[old mcdanold]

ut just had to have the neighbor arrested for her dog in my chickens (when I called I did not know it was arrestable) but she refused to even pay for the damage it tid breaking through the wire

 

[aart]

I'm more convinced now that my dogs were not out at all that day. Additionally, there was a pile of dead animals this morning at the fox den, with several of the pups there with it. The mama fox is clearly killing animals and bringing them to the den. She is not particularly scarred of people either. I've sat in my vehicle around 20 feet from her without her fleeing. The pups have even less fear of people.

Hopefully some were chickens and you got pics.

..... That being said, some wild animals, especially the foxes, will surplus kill (would appear to be for fun until carcasses policed up by predator).......

'Fun' is a human attribute.....the word 'surplus' is very fitting for this activity.

That is one part of the whole equation that hasn't been addressed. If these people allowed their chickens to free-range .....

Good question.

 

[centrarchid]

Hopefully some were chickens and you got pics.

'Fun' is a human attribute.....the word 'surplus'  is very fitting for this activity.

Good question.

Humans ain't special. I live among them. They do not appear to have any thing on other critters when it comes to emotion or motive. What does set them aside is complexity of communication across a range of media, extremely complex social dynamics and relatively high levels of memory capacity. They do think highly of themselves to the point of arrogance.

 

[bigoledude]

Many wild animals will kill without eating the victim. Any member of the weasel family will infiltrate a coop and kill every chicken in it. Possums and coons will also do the same. Coyotes are known for doing so. But, domestic dogs are notorious for this and are usually guilty in far more cases than wild animals are.

This being said, your dog on another person's property is absolutely a predator. Not in my opinion, not in the opinion of the wealthy neighbors. But, in the eyes of the law. I promise there are infinitely more people here on this forum who've been victimized by someone's negligence or refusal to keep their dogs from other people's property. I always recommend to them that they kill those dogs. No hard feelings, no discussion or lawsuit. Just one less predator killing their stock.

It's simple science and math,

Science; Dead dogs don't kill chickens.

Math; One less killer is ONE LESS!

I've stated here how many cases we've heard of where a neighbor complains to an irresponsible dog owner, the dog dies from whatever or whoever. And the neighbor who complained gets blamed for the dead dog. I would NEVER advise a person to confront a neighbor over their dog killing chickens. Unless of course, the chickens were very valuable and the victim expects to be compensated.

Some people here defend the dogs with "It's not their fault, they're just doing what dogs do" This is exactly why I kill them. It is embedded in their DNA to kill. Just like it is embedded in my DNA to protect me and mine!