Please help! Seeking every legal avenue for vengeance after a slaughter (TX).

[Imbri]

As long as those dogs run free, my chickie girls are inside. I just tripped over them all in the kitchen while husband and I were getting a bedtime snack (I work nights). They're so naughty and so darn sweet! I love the way they talk to me with their soft clucks; I swear they ask me questions. I don't know what I'd do if something happened to my girls!! I'm crying at just the thought of losing them.

I'm still trying to wrap my mind around never hearing ducks chattering to me or getting to call out "duck-a-ducks" after I yell "chick-a, chick-aaa" or mimicking Mozzie's crow. Sometimes, my husband and I would be sitting at the computer together by the open window, playing a game and talking, and suddenly we'd hear quacking outside the window like ducks just had to get their two cents in (which made us burst out laughing). Most of all, I miss poultry-on-parade and the way they'd escort me to and from my car and see me off to work every afternoon. I miss opening the bathroom window and watching ducks waddle past and chickens/rooster pick up their skirts and dart around. Two of my hens would always stare at me through the window like they were trying to figure out the puzzle of how to get to me.

 

[Imbri]

Animal control is incompetent!! They took the sheriff to the dog owners' house thinking it was ours because they can't read reports and told my mother-in-law to put "her dogs" up before they came back so they wouldn't be confiscated as well... BUT THOSE WERE THE DOGS WHO KILLED MY BABIES. Everything was written correctly on the reports that were both emailed and faxed AND I included a picture of the owners' house. Why would we send a pic of our own house and our own dogs??? Morons.

SIX days later the dogs are still coming back each morning looking for my hens. My MIL is sure she heard sounds like two poultry getting killed in turn yesterday and most of our neighbors have chickens so it's possible she did hear that.

Apparently, other neighbors have submitted complaints about these same dogs running loose in the past.

I've never felt any desire to own a firearm before, but I sure do now. MIL seems to be suggesting it, saying we keep it locked in the garage where husband would never go and just never tell him it exists, but I've NEVER kept a secret like that from him and don't want to start now.

She told our next door neighbor, whose yard one of the dogs has tunneled into before and he's very upset. They raise hens and roosters and sell them. Apparently their kids and the kids' friends have been fawning over our ducks and gorgeous new rooster and trying to give them treats through the fence, lol. He said if he sees the dogs on his property, he's going to kill them.

 

[MamaBelle5]

Animal control is incompetent!! They took the sheriff to the dog owners' house thinking it was ours because they can't read reports and told my mother-in-law to put "her dogs" up before they came back so they wouldn't be confiscated as well... BUT THOSE WERE THE DOGS WHO KILLED MY BABIES. Everything was written correctly on the reports that were both emailed and faxed AND I included a picture of the owners' house. Why would we send a pic of our own house and our own dogs??? Morons.

SIX days later the dogs are still coming back each morning looking for my hens. My MIL is sure she heard sounds like two poultry getting killed in turn yesterday and most of our neighbors have chickens so it's possible she did hear that.

Apparently, other neighbors have submitted complaints about these same dogs running loose in the past.

I've never felt any desire to own a firearm before, but I sure do now. MIL seems to be suggesting it, saying we keep it locked in the garage where husband would never go and just never tell him it exists, but I've NEVER kept a secret like that from him and don't want to start now.

She told our next door neighbor, whose yard one of the dogs has tunneled into before and he's very upset. They raise hens and roosters and sell them. Apparently their kids and the kids' friends have been fawning over our ducks and gorgeous new rooster and trying to give them treats through the fence, lol. He said if he sees the dogs on his property, he's going to kill them.

I think your instinct was right, with your husband's health issues, I support your decision to not keep a gun in your home.

Someone suggested a paintball gun or a bb gun. Why don't you try that?

 

[parvani]

I'm thinking that you may be able to form a neighborhood vigilante group. You yourself don't need to own a gun if your neighbor who sells chickens has a gun and is willing to use it. You could offer to help keep watch and inform him when the dogs are present in his yard.

You and all your chicken-owning neighbors could also show up one evening on the dog owner's front porch and share your complaints as a group. Even if the neighbor doesn't understand English, they are sure to understand that their dogs have enraged the entire neighborhood.

Also, I understand that Texas allows open carry of firearms?

 

[Imbri]

Well, anthing short of confiscation or death seems moot, given that the dogs are diggers and I don't trust them not to dig their way to the hens. I've gotta figure something out, though. Chickens do NOT belong inside, lol!

Another murder occurred today... of the last kolache, which had been in a box on the stove:

We haven't seen the dogs in 5-6 days and we've been looking, but animal control says they haven't taken them. Working on fencing improvements now... And "wanted" posters...

Mother in law thinks someone else may have killed them but I'm worried they're just inside until the heat dies down.

 

[Imbri]

Yeah, antifreeze in dog food would do it, but that's a sucky death and not an option, since our cats are spending a lot of time outside. They only come in at night after chickie girls go to sleep, since they're all terrified of chickens, lol. Our hen at the bottom of the pecking order tends to act dominant towards the cats the most. Additionally, if the dogs are alive, they're being kept inside for now.

I'm going to leave the owners a note telling them their dogs are dead if I see them on my property again and put up posters with pics of the dogs that say "DANGER! Flock killers!" and a request to text me if someone can confirm them dead or removed.

 

[parvani]

Well, anthing short of confiscation or death seems moot, given that the dogs are diggers and I don't trust them not to dig their way to the hens. I've gotta figure something out, though. Chickens do NOT belong inside, lol!

Another murder occurred today... of the last kolache, which had been in a box on the stove:

View attachment 2593790

We haven't seen the dogs in 5-6 days and we've been looking, but animal control says they haven't taken them. Working on fencing improvements now... And "wanted" posters...

Mother in law thinks someone else may have killed them but I'm worried they're just inside until the heat dies down.

So wait -- the CHICKENS got into the kolache???

Oh I totally misunderstood that post. I thought somehow the dogs got into the kolache... which was why you thought that they were still alive and just being kept indoors.

But if the dogs have become chicken killers in a neighborhood full of chicken owners, then they won't live long regardless.

 

[NatJ]

What if you got a BB gun or pellet gun instead? A couple hard stings to the butt might be enough to make the dogs stay away.

That might not be a good idea.

In many areas, it is illegal "animal cruelty" to shoot a dog with a BB or pellet or paintball.

(Even if the law permits you to kill the dog, you might get in trouble for shooting it with something that is meant to chase if off without killing it.)

 

[Gizabelle]

A simple three strand polywire and charger set up can be relatively inexpensive, and it won't take them long to figure out that they don't want to come back to your house.
Also... try to get your hands on a game camera. Photo evidence of these dogs on your property after a warning counts as a "strike" and further action from animal control can be taken.
But, talking to the offenders (no matter how outraged you may be) can sometimes be the best solution. When this happened to us, I was heartbroken, spitting mad, and ready for a fight too. Luckily, my husband had a cooler head and went over to talk to the neighbor. He was glad to reimburse us for our losses (he actually felt terrible that it had happened) and explained how he was having trouble keeping his ENORMOUS WOLFDOGS on his property because of a hole under his fence. My husband brought him a load of rock that we had lying around and solved the problem. We still have a good relationship with him to this day.
I'm not saying it will work out that well, but its worth a shot. Sometimes people are genuinely trying, and just a little understanding can make a big difference.

That being said... you should still document EVERY transgression just in case.

 

[EllieandOlive]

We have a no leash law rural neighborhood, in TX. Dogs run around practically feral kill people's poultry and cats. The local animal control cop fully supports us protecting our animals, and has just said be careful where you aim. We've made multiple reports after losing birds to a handful the same dogs, with photo evidence of the dogs climbing our 6ft fences and fully fenced property. One set of 3 dogs have been,such a nuisance with SO many reports being filed on them that anytime someone sees on or all three of the dogs off their property the owners get a 300$ fine per dog, per time it was reported, each time it happens. Since that happened their dogs have been not an issue. I believe they rehomed them.

Anyways, we have a neighbor directly across our street who has two poorly cared for dogs who have killed and are vicious to our animals and don't obey or respond at all when trying to stop them in their kill drive rampages. One is extremely skinny and squeezes through our driveway gate. It's a pitbull mix. It will be shot the next time we see it on our land, will the full support of the sheriff after multiple reports and acknowledgement of the negligent owner. It has even gone after our young small breed dog when my kids took him out to go potty. Zero tolerance for kill drive dogs on my land.