I lost one today....

[Merax]

My chooks have free reign in my yard. I had thought it was a safe environment, 5 foot fenced acre. The only other animal we have is a cat and she gets on really well with the chickens. I heard their "alarm" sound this afternoon, raced outside and a bloody German Shepherd had jumped the fence into my yard and was eating one of my six girls. So, so angry. I managed to get hold of the dog and tied it up securely. Both my daughters were in tears. Got the rest of my chickens safely back in the coop.

Found out from the local community facebook group that the dog comes from a few houses just up the road and has a history of getting out. Went up there to confront the owners and they weren't home, which was probably a good thing as I was pretty steamed. Also the dog didn't have a registration tag at all. Tied the dog to their front door and left them a letter asking that they present themselves at my place tomorrow at 9am with a $50 restitution for my killed chicken and that they personally apologize to my kids.

Will be interesting to see if they show up. Firearms are not very common in Australia and it's probably a good thing, as if I'd had a gun I would have used it on that dog.

 

[sourland]

Do you have a department of 'animal control'? If so it might be a good idea to get on record about this incident. My gut says this dog will be back.

 

[Zoomie]

I agree with @sourland that the dog will be back. You need to report to police or whatever law enforcement officials would be in charge of this... where I live, it would be a brand inspector. Laws can really vary so contact LE so you know the proper thing to do for your area.

Where I live, a dog caught killing livestock is sent to the vet to be humanely euthanized at the owner's expense. In addition the owner must appear in court. The tricky part is catching the dog in the act, which you did, brilliantly, so that really helps your case. I hope the owner is at least fined, and that they do repay you, although to be honest I would be extremely surprised. In my experience, the owner will claim the dog "would never do something like that" even when the dog is laying right there covered in blood. A surprising amount of people don't realize that dogs are predators.

 

[itsasmallfarm]

sorry for you losses i agree with sourland i would report this attack.

 

[ladyearth]

You could have used something other than a gun.... Just a saying
take care

 

[ladyearth]

we do what we have to