Dogs killed everything

[meeko27]

Just posted this on another thread but wanted to get it out there again so everyone would see it.
Our nabours dogs dug under our chain link fence then tore a hole in the chicken wire on to separte pens and killed 20 or more ducks and chickens. All we have left are 4 chickens and 1 duck. I live in alabama is there any legal action I can take. We've given them the chance to get rid of the dogs but they haven't. The dogs even came back the next night to kill the cats. That's how we knew it was there dogs. We've had most of the chickens for 6 or more years. And they could care less. It makes me sick. The only time anything like this has ever happened was when my own dog killed 5 of the chickens and I found him a new home the next week. So they can't just ask I don't like there dogs I got rid of my own dog for the same thing. What can I do? I'm lost.

 

[Naunnie]

I am so sorry this has happened to you and your family. I would file a report with the police department and with the animal control in your area. I know it may be hard, but pictures of the damage would be helpful as well.

 

[centrarchid]

You can shoot dogs while in act of causing harm to your stock. You are legally bound to have intent to kill when shooting. See what state and county rules apply to feral dogs.


Being reactive requires you being there while if proactive like in hardening your setup the dogs can be kept out.


Repair fencing / coop and look into adding a perimeter of electrified fencing. A little zap goes a long ways at enhancing even a poorly made fence.

 

[snowflake]

I agree, electric fence will keep them out and you may only need 1 strand about 12" off the ground, get the nose

also you should add up the cost of the hens and cost of feed to get them that age and give it to your neighbor, at the same time let them know you have a right to protect your flock even if it means killing their dog, If you can get a pic of them attacking your birds the courts should inforce this for you and will put dogs down

check the laws, we just had a dog attack on a flock of sheep in our town and the county had to pay for the damage and get reemburcement from owner of dogs,thanks to an old law on the books, county was not happy and will most likely remove that law as soon as they can, but was there for this farmer,cost was close to $4000 7 when he added damage to other sheep and loss of use, but I think the cty only pd. him 4

 

[houseofknauss]

file claim with the police department--then file small claims action against them, call the game worden, call the aspca. I wouldn't screw around. you have done what you could to protect--their animals destroyed your property. maybe they will get the hint if they realize you have the right to shoot their dogs on your property while they are attacking.

 

[houseofknauss]

and get a maremma or german shepard dog. both good with livestock--and protective of what is theirs.

 

[houseofknauss]

one more thing as I am rambling, my poultry is my shepards' babies and is allowed to sniff their butts and lick their heads from the time they are born.

 

[meeko27]

Thanks. We can't use electric fence bc we have small dogs and cats. And I've had a cat killed by a fence. We are calling the police to file a report. And have pictures of all the damage minus the dead birds we had picked them up by the time we thought about it. But we do have pics of the two big trash bag full that we out them in.

 

[OKchkman]

The same thing happened to us last year but it was a stray dog at 1:30 am. I gave it good beating after it got all 7 of my birds. Had the dog catcher come get it the next day

 

[XtremeRooster]

I am sorry to hear about your loss. Depending on what area of Alabama you are in I believe you have a legal right to shoot the dogs if you catch them on your property destroying livestock. As far as the electric fence thing that will only work if you get one that has enough juice aka (amperage~voltage) to work with livestock. I know I bought one of those fido fence boxes from walmart to keep the dogs I used to have out of my wife's flower beds, the dogs laughed at it and continued digging up the flowers.

So I went to the farm supply store and bought a cattle guard fence controller that is good for 35 miles of electric fence, it is not constant on, it pulses When the dew is falling in the morning you can hear the pulses. It only took fido a couple of jolts from that and he did not want anymore. The downside is I had to legally mark it electrified fence every 50 ft but hey it worked.

I keep a couple of rifles, shotguns , and pistols ready. If the predators come in my place from the front side which is all wooded I use my .22 magnum, on the other three sides it is a .20 gauge shotgun. But usually my female German Shepherd has them stopped before they get in my yard. She has put the brakes on my neighbors two dogs several times while my chickens were free ranging. She is extremely protective of her turf and pretty much knows the bounderies, because I don't have any fencing for the yard. I have a dog kennel and a coop with a run. But in the afternoon usually we let the chickens free range while someone is here to help protect them.

It will never be predator proof where I am at. All I can do is try to control them best I can. So far I only lost one bird and my dog killed it, and she has been reintroduced to my taser collar, aka Tritronics sport 60. It is working quite well, she does not like electricity.