Chicken owner charged after shooting dog.

[lurky]

CM, Your GOOD!!!! You should post that in the comments section of that news article.

 

[silkie freak 22]

are you all nuts!! I definately think that it was the chicken owners fault. he could have yelled at the dog or done something else, i dont think that shot to the heart was an accident he shot to kill and the report says nothing about the cchickens beeing harmed the report said that he shot the dog for beeing near the coop. if he shot the dog cause it was in the coop or the run it might be ok but he didnt have to shoot to kill, i know a guy down the road from us that if a cat or any other animal gets within ten feet of his coop he shoots it and its not right he knows its not right and the whole community knows its not right.

 

[MysticScorpio82]

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Actually, in most places, the law states that if a dog is "threatening" your animals, you can legally shoot it. In this case I am sure the chicken owner felt this animals were being threatened. Who is to say he didn't try yelling at the dog first? Did you see something in the article I missed? The fact he used a BB gun shows he was only trying to scare it off and not kill it.

Also it is the dog owner is at fault, not the chicken owner, because he broke the law first. Had the dog owner not been breaking leash laws and such, he never would have put his dog in the position to be shot.

 

[Sillystunt]

where i live chickens are considered livestock. Shame of a story~

 

[cmjust0]

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When a dog goes into full-on prey drive mode, they're pretty much oblivious to all external stimuli. They lose themselves in the moment and become completely different animals. It's the same with survival mode when a dog is in a fight, which is how people wind up in physical therapy after trying to break up fights between their "never hurt a fly" furbabies.

We have six dogs and love them all dearly, but I've seen full-on prey drive and full-on survival drive...

Yelling doesn't work.

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If you're shooting a dog to kill, you're holding something more powerful than a pellet gun.

Period.

This was a one-in-a-million shot...a freak accident, I'd say.

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You're assuming he shot to kill; I'd say he shot to warn.. Not to mention..if you read the article...it's pretty obviously slanted toward the dog owner. I wouldn't doubt one bit that these dogs were digging and/or tearing at enclosure, trying their level best to get in.

That's what dogs do when they go into prey drive mode.

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It's a judgement call, and if the animal is on his property near his coops, it's his call to make... That's how it works. If the community knows he'll kill their animals if they come near his coop, it's the community's responsibility to keep their animals away from his coop.

 

[troy5775]

I would guess that many people walk their dogs in this area and that the chicken owner has a lot of problems with these dogs bothering his flock. The gut is probably fed up and did what he thought was necessary. I can tell you from experience, after you loose a few chickens to dogs you don't wait for them to start eating before you start busting them with a pellet rifle. He probably didn't mean to kill the dog but likely didn't care either. This is all the fault of the dog owner.

 

[horsejody]

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But just because you're ok with that doesn't mean everyone else is. Some people aren't going to sit around and see if the dog will stay on his side of the fence.

Also, we don't know the chicken owner's side of the story. He was advised by his lawyer not to comment. For all we know, the dog could have been a repeat offender and could have been running frantically around the chicken run wreaking havoc with the birds. We don't know. There was obviously previous problems with dogs. The poor guy even put out flyers begging neighbors to not let their dogs roam on his property. As far as the chickens/livestock in city limits thing, he may have been grandfathered in for livestock. We don't know anything about his side of the story.

 

[WalkingWolf]

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Dogs off leash maim and kill children, let alone chickens, the man was well within his rights to shoot the dog. Chickens spooked by a dog can suffer harm in the cage just from fear and flight into a closed area. Cats can be even a worse problem than dogs they can't be kept out of a yard by fences and they will reach through and grab chickens just like a raccoon.

The dog owner should be charged and it is despicable the way he is playing the media for sympathy. He is the one who should be charged for cruelty. There is a court ruling that if you discharge a firearm in defense of person or property you can not be charged with weapons violations. I highly doubt this case goes this far, and in fact if Harris was actually cuffed and taken to jail I do suspect a liable trial in the future for both the police and the dog owner.

I personally would not have bothered with calling the law, rather SSS. There is just no dealing or predicting how much of a lunatic will react. Or how the police may try to make a political statement out of a dog owners stupidity. BTW last summer in Raleigh or Durham do not remember which the city arrested 2 teens for firearm discharge while playing in their own yards with paint ball guns...

 

[silkie freak 22]

it just makes me kinda mad i see that the dog should have never been near the coop but if it was you r dog what would you think? thats how i was thinking when i saw this.

 

[troy5775]

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I warned my neighbors about their animals eating my chickens, told them that the county said I had the right to kill. What is not right is someone letting their animals run loose on other peoples property. I have a 1000fps pellet rifle that will lay out a cat, possum or small dog with good shot placement.


If the whole community thinks it is not right, keep the animals under control and off his property. If his birds are in a coop then he is doing his part and keeping his animals on his property. Everyone else should do the same.