Chicken owner charged after shooting dog.

[MysticScorpio82]

Yay!! I am so glad they declined charges!! Welcome to BYC Mr. Harris!!

 

[WingingIt]

Very glad to see that the DA declined to press charges, as well they should have because the dog was the one running loose and threatening you and your animals. You have our support and please do let us know if there is anything we can do to assist you as far as contacting the media with letters, etc.

 

[erafter]

I place on the media KTVZ comment page this moring.
Message awaits moderator approval

The dog owner Mr. Gapp admitted to not knowing anything about the land around him. He did not believe the land to be inhabited. Did not know there was a family with 3 small children, and animals, all kept responsibly on their own private land.

Living just 4 ac. directly down and behind from Mr. Gapps home. Families live and want to enjoy their own private land tending gardens, animals, and toys.

He just did not care. He did not know it is private land. Maybe it’s more than that. He sent out his Dogs alone. Dogs lying claim to everything, nothing to stop them.
He was so far away he heard nothing, saw nothing, and could do nothing to stop the fight this family was in with his dogs.

There were two dogs in the attack working together; these dogs were repeat offenders having been chased off before. They loved the new toy that the chicken, turkey coop created for their predator nature. Chasing them around the coop is much easier than the wild quail, deer, and rabbits they had chase at other times and had been caught doing with ODFW, police, and Redmond Human Society called.

Deer around here kill dogs for that same behavior. Don’t get between a doe and its fawn. But the dog owner did not know about that. He just did not care. Don’t get between dogs and their prey; small children, and the elderly are easier to catch too.

Mr. Gapp did not know his pack was chasing anything. How could he know “out of sight out of mind”.
30 days he had the one dog. Releasing a 3 year old dog so far away, he heard nothing, saw nothing, and could do nothing about the trouble the dogs were in or this poor family.
Irresponsible, criminal, ignorant, self absorbed any pain MR. Gapp is in, is of his own making. Rather than taking personal responsibility Mr. Gapp wants to blame this family and keep them living in fear. As reported by the media “he is still unsure if he will change his ways”.
Mr. Gapps’ reasoning is that everyone else is doing it. Again he blames others.

 

[pips&peeps]

I figured as much.

 

[Brindlebtch]

I just caught up with this thread! (I work at night)

WAY TO GO MR.
HARRIS and MR. DISTRICT ATTORNEY!!!! Well thought out Mr. DA!

and, of course, we all think horsejody is the best!!!

Happy to have you here Mr. Harris and I'm so happy this has worked out for you!

 

[horsejody]

Quote:
Actually, Horsejody just squeaks a lot. Sometimes it serves me well, and sometimes it get me into trouble.

Good luck Ed. I hope you have seen the last of bad owners and their dogs. I also hope that you find a way to recoup your legal costs.

 

[Mom2Cool]

Quote:
I had a feeling about this in that it was a case of disregard rather than him "not knowing". If it was really because he did not know then now that he DOES know & now that he's lost a dog he would be reconsidering/rethinking his actions of letting his dogs just run free..... The fact that he came upon you & a cop & only then realized his dog had been killed shows this dog was completely out of his sight to the point of this man not knowing what happened to him.... *irresponsible*! A person hardly had to be there to know this man let his dog go & didn't even know where it was & for some time, but just reading the news article one can see this.


Instead of Mr Gapps doing what everyone else is doing perhaps he should set himself up as the example of what they all should do & leash their dogs....... If they want to exercise a dog off leash there are now dog parks for that.

 

[Brindlebtch]

When I was a small kid and I got into trouble over something sometimes my excuse would be "But they were ALL doing it!" and my mom would invariably ask "If they jumped off a cliff would you do that, too?"

 

[WalkingWolf]

Thank you Ed for not caving and fighting for your rights. You have done a service for all of us.

Now Mr DA I am happy you did the right thing, but your job is not done. The police dept showed considerable disrespect and irresponsibility, and were lacking in their duties. I know you are not the administrator of emergency services but you can command that they change their ways and do their job properly. There are human lives in danger and at stake here. Yes we are concerned with our pets and our livestock, but this could have a tragedy of great proportions had the dog set out to kill a child, elderly, or just an ordinary citizen.

I made a big mistake Sunday, a large German Sheppard jumped my fence and killed one of my ducks. I stopped him in the attack of my chickens, by using a firearm and firing safely into the ground. When I attempted to get him from my yard or capture him he turned on me. Instead of taking the proper action of dropping him. I let my love of animals get in the way and I again fired into the ground to get him cease in his charge towards me.

Here is the problem, my own safety aside, because I did not drop this animal I endangered the children in the neighborhood. The animal could have easily in his agitated mode killed or maimed a child. I am lucky for my own piece of mind that did not happen. You see none of us wants to kill a dog, Mr. Harris included, and it is not easy. But their is more at stake than just chickens. Please don't make my mistake and let emotions get in the way of doing your job, start pushing the enforcement of leash and dog at large laws.

BTW we would love it if you create a profile and respond to us directly if you want Mr. DA.

 

[Wolf-Kim]

Well before we come to the conclusion that the police were out of line, let us double check with Mr. Harris first. Because most of our information has come from the biased media article. The police may have very well been polite and respectful, but the article was slanted in such a way to make them appear otherwise.

-Kim