Chicken owner charged after shooting dog.

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"discharging a FIREARM"????????????????? since when is a pellet gun a FIREARM?????? its a air riffle NOT a firearm...
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I was amused by this comment about the chickens not being livestock too. It seems when a city wants to get rid of them or to prohibit them they are livestock but when someone's precious little puppy who is off leash and wandering unsupervised by the owner they are pets....How typical. The dog owner who clearly admits he lost track of his dog and just "continued to call her name on the way home" is not being served any sort of notice for violating the law(per the article) yet the big old bad chicken owner is in need of a lawyer.

Do you suppose if they had been pit bulls or rottis instead of big ole cuddly golden retrievers the article or the police actions would have been different? I find this "breed" hypocrisy so typical.
 
In most states any type of thing that can fire a projectile is classed as a firearm. Yes including sling shots and air powered rifles.
 
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Oh.....i thought it was a response to what i posted
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The odds are the guy has this problem often if the trails run so close to his property. He probably figured it would just sting and get the dog to leave. I bet he feels horrible that he actually killed the dog. If killing the dog was his intent, i would think he would have something more than a pellet gun.
 
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wow I hear ya, but man thats stupid. In that case a water gun is a firearm... that just goes against the definition of a firearm.... but those that make the laws sure can bend them to suit their needs it seems. Does that mean when I play catch with my son, I'm discharging a firearm?=====OK LOL I'm done my rant and NN I'm not arguing with you at all , I just find the blur of definitions crazy.
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I have been in the position of that chicken owner myself.

1982, I lost 45 birds in one night to a niegbhor's dog. I actually saw the dog in the coop. He had torn a huge whole in the net wire, got in and went to killing. I heard the commotion, it had evidently been going on a while, I turned the back light on and the dog took off before I could do anything. The next morning I called the local sheriff, deputy came out. we went talked to the dog owner, he naturally denied that it was his dog. At that time I warned him, to keep the dog out and off my property. He assured me and the deputy that his dog never left his yard.


The next night, I sit up and wait. 2200 hrs, the commotion starts, not that much of a commotion, cause I don't have but a dozen chickens left. Grab my trusty 20ga loaded with one slug and two 0 bucks. Swing open the door, flip on the light and there he is just like he is posing for a mug shot. I lay him out with the slug round, the buck was not needed. Naturally the shotgun going off wakes up my nieghbor. I hear him calling the dog.

I go inside and call the sheriff, tell'em what happened and that a deputy was required. 15 minutes later he drives up. My nieghbor, his kids and his wife are all standing on my driveway hollering like banshees.

The next day they went to the Justice of The Peace and filed charges against me, Cruelty to an animal. I might mention that I was never charge will ilegal discharge of a fire arm, because it is legal to discharge a fire arm on my own property. I do not live with in the limits of any town, vilage, or city. The sheriff shows up arrested me, allowed me to drive my own vehicle down to the jail, post my own property bond, and I am released ROR. I called my lawyer he advised me to go to the JOP and file charges for damage to private property (my chickens).

The same deputy drives up at the nieghbor's house, arrest him. He and his family pitch a high holy tantrum. Wailing the likes you have never heard. Hauled him off in the cruiser wearing cuffs. I guess not cooperating does have it's cost.

Up shot of it was, I got off, he got off, I paid for my chickens, he paid for his dog. The remaining 3 years they lived in that home we never spoke.

These people rented the home, nothing against renters, that just a description of the circumstances. Prior to this incident the kids would be in my yard looking at my chickens and rabbits. they were never a problem and they were welcome to visit. I had all kinds of interesting things in my yard so it was only natural they would want to come look at the stuff.

Things I learned.

1. 20ga rifled slugs are deadly
2. build a chicken coop like a fortress
3. never trust a nieghbor
4. trust no dog
5. if in doubt call the law and let them sort it out
 
I understand that the law says you can kill potential predators after your livestock, and that's why it matters whether the chickens are considered livestock, but I don't understand why the law says that. Why should it be less important to kill predators after your pets than predators after your livestock? Pets can be every bit as monetarily valuable as livestock, and definitely emotionally valuable. If a rottweiler had been after this guy's chihuahua, I don't think anyone would blame him for shooting it.

Personally from the details we have I think the chicken owner was too hasty in shooting the dog, but I do think he was within his rights to do so and he may have had reasons we don't know about-- maybe this is not the first time the dog has come into his yard aggressively, maybe the dog was presenting an outright threat to the birds, who knows.

The news article reads like a deliberate attempt to elicit sympathy for the dog owner-- dogs are cuter than chickens, I guess. Well, sorry, it won't work on me. Dogs are cute, but they're also potential predators and you can't expect people to know which one your dog is when it comes charging into their yard without a leash and without an owner anywhere in sight.
 
i dont think the chicken guy was TRying to kill the dog. if it were me, i'd use something a bit stronger than a bb gun. but then again, maybe he knew he wasnt allowed to use a real gun and thought a pellet gun didnt count as a firearm. a leash wouldve prevented this in the first place.
 
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"Police say" are the keywords, there.. What the judge says is all that will matter, and if the judge says differently, this will probably all go away.

However, the lesson we chicken owners should probably all take from this lies in the obvious slant with which this article was written.....

The guy who let his dog run loose is a "grieving dog owner," whereas the guy protecting his own property is simply referred to as the "shooter."

There is video on the website of the cute, cuddly pup...but not of the chickens...

They mention the 'wooded acreage' behind the dog owner's house, but they conveniently fail to investigate whether or not the folks using it have permission or are actually trespassing on someone's land..

They mention that the dog was off-leash, but make sure to point out that "many neighbors" do the same thing so as not to single him out for his own personal irresponsibility.

Look at this map , too.. Look where SW Cascade Vista Drive is in relation to SW 43rd -- hundreds of yards away....not to mention, Cascade Vista is obviously a McMansion-infested $MM neighborhood.

The point of all this being, nobody in the court of public opinion gives a rat's hiney about chickens.. Dogs, however obnoxious or destructive they may be, are becoming more and more like peoples' kids these days, and most folks can identify with how horrific it would be to have someone shoot their "fur baby".

I'm not saying people shouldn't protect their flock...I guess what I'm saying is that if you have to use the SSS method, make sure you're in a position to be able to actually carry out the last two S's incognito or you might wind up like poor ol' Mr. Harris, here...

Clearly, his worst mistake was calling the cops. When that dog dropped, he should have run out, grabbed it, grabbed a shovel, and kept his mouth shut..
 
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"Police say" are the keywords, there.. What the judge says is all that will matter, and if the judge says differently, this will probably all go away.

However, the lesson we chicken owners should probably all take from this lies in the obvious slant with which this article was written.....

The guy who let his dog run loose is a "grieving dog owner," whereas the guy protecting his own property is simply referred to as the "shooter."

There is video on the website of the cute, cuddly pup...but not of the chickens...

They mention the 'wooded acreage' behind the dog owner's house, but they conveniently fail to investigate whether or not the folks using it have permission or are actually trespassing on someone's land..

They mention that the dog was off-leash, but make sure to point out that "many neighbors" do the same thing so as not to single him out for his own personal irresponsibility.

Look at this map , too.. Look where SW Cascade Vista Drive is in relation to SW 43rd -- hundreds of yards away....not to mention, Cascade Vista is obviously a McMansion-infested $MM neighborhood.

The point of all this being, nobody in the court of public opinion gives a rat's hiney about chickens.. Dogs, however obnoxious or destructive they may be, are becoming more and more like peoples' kids these days, and most folks can identify with how horrific it would be to have someone shoot their "fur baby".

I'm not saying people shouldn't protect their flock...I guess what I'm saying is that if you have to use the SSS method, make sure you're in a position to be able to actually carry out the last two S's incognito or you might wind up like poor ol' Mr. Harris, here...

Clearly, his worst mistake was calling the cops. When that dog dropped, he should have run out, grabbed it, grabbed a shovel, and kept his mouth shut.
.

Well said.
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