Anyone who owns any type of animal is responsible.
I have chickens and I have 5 dogs.
If my dogs kill my chickens it is absolutely my fault.
Now, I was talking to my neighbors over the fence one day and the chickens were running all over the yard.
My neighbors dogs starting going nuts on the other side of the fence and she turned to her husband and said well we need to break them of that because if a chicken ever got over the fence into our yard they would kill it and I would feel terrible.
I said if one of my chickens ever got over the fence and into your yard it would NOT be your fault it would be mine, and I am the one that would feel terrible for you to come home and find your dogs tearing apart one of my chickens. Its not something you should have to face.
Dogs have that instinct to kill and dog owners are responsible for them, but you are also responsible for keeping your chickens safe.
I had a rescue dog years ago, before I ever had chickens.
I had someone watching my house and the dog for the weekend.
Somehow when they went in the house the dog pushed passed them and ran out the door.
It took them hours to finally locate the dog.
When I came back that night my neighbor from across the street came over and told me that my dog had killed one of his chickens.
I felt horrible about and apologized profusely. I offered to replace the chicken as well.
His response was, No Way, its my own fault.
I don't have a fenced in yard and I left the coop door open while I was working in the yard.
Dogs are dogs and he did what came natural, but I just wanted to let you know that your dog was running loose today in case you were not aware of it.
He knew we had been gone and had someone watching the property.
Bottom line, we all have responsibility for our pets, to keep them out of other people's yards, but also to realize that if someone else's dog comes over and kills your chickens that is also your reponsibility, safety measures should be in effect.
No, their dogs have no business on your property and if one got through my fence and/or run and killed my chickens, can't say what I would do with them, but there is obviously something wrong with the protection I have offered my chickens.
I agree that people are not accepting enough responsibility for their losses.
I have had a couple chickens killed before, but I didn't make a thread out of it asking for prayers because-- I was an idiot, if you want to pray, pray for me to be more responsible.
I learned a lesson the hard way.
or i believe it is.
