Thank you BYC, Dog ATtack help

[chickenshagg]

My chickens were attacked by a couple of dogs today. I caught the dog with one of my Delawares in its mouth. It dropped it when I came running at them. I picked her up at ran to the house and logged into BYC where I did a search on "dog attack". I was able to find out right away how to treat the wounds and what to do with her. She lost a lot of feathers and had several puncture wounds but my wife and I were able to clean and dress the wounds. I now have her in a small cat carrier on the kitchen table. We fed her a boiled egg which she ate very quickly and now she has some crumbled feed and water in her cage. She seems to be doing well, she has been softly talking to us. Hopefully she will pull through this ok. I am still missing two other Delawares all my chickens were scattered but five came back as a group and then I found another Delaware in the woods and an EE in some brush. I hope they show up in the morning.

I called the Sherrifs department and they put me in touch with Animal Control who took a report over the phone. They said that they would send an Officer out tomorrow to take a full report and investigate what happened. They said to not discard any of the evidence even if the bird does not make it. They said that they would locate the owners of the dogs.

Thanks again to all the folks on BYC who have offered help and advice to people just like me!!!!

 

[WilczenskiFarm]

keep us posted about what animal control ends up doing/enforcing... just curious.

Nice job with caring for your girl... that's why I read up on stuff here all the time... just in case

 

[purpletree23]

I'm sorry you had a dog attack. I've been there! Not fun and what a hassle. I'm glad BYC'ers were there to help. They were right there with me when my chicken got injured and talked me through her care from her wounds and calmed me when she died. Everyone here is the best.

Keep notes about the dogs and when and why you called the police and what they days and who you talked to. I hope someone can learn from my experience. My story is long and frustrating and believe me when I say to shoot the dog if it attacks your chickens again (if it legal in your state).

Shooting dogs killing chickens and other livestock is legal her in New Hampshire. I should have done that when the dogs first showed up. Hind site is 50/50. We wanted the police and the legal system to take care of it. We didn't want to be labeled the people who kill dogs.

Well the dogs showed up a few more times, I paid a lot of money to go to court to get the situation corrected, the owners were fined because their dogs are running loose, the police come to my house to make reports when they have more important things to do and animal control won't take the dogs even though they are not licensed. The owners will not pay the fines.
The court awarded me $50.00 for the chicken, $72.00 to file the court papers, the $62.00 to have the sheriff serve the papers and $18.00 for police reports. I still have not received payment. If I want the owners wages garnished I have to fill out more paperwork and pay another $25.00 to have that go into affect. The best part is that I got a glimpse of the dog today on our property.

I've rambled but take my word for it. Dog owners who don't take responsibility now never will and those dogs will be back for another chicken dinner.

Everyone on the forum told me to SSS. Shoot, shovel and shut up! But I didn't listen. I listen loud and clear now and I don't trust our legal system. Sad but true.

 

[chickenshagg]

I got my gun out after the attack. I have had it sitting on the patio table since.(That reminds me, I need to go bring it in.) When I talked with the police dispatcher she asked if the dogs were still there? I told her if they were they would be DEAD. She did not say anything. I will tell Animal Patrol tomorrow that if those dogs come back I will shoot them!

 

[purpletree23]

I hope they don't come back but if they do I hope you hit your mark! I forgot to mention one other thing. I spoke with a police officer after our trial (hysterical laughing) and asked him to go with me to talk to the 'neighbors' about their dog and he said he would give them a message for me so an argument doesn't break out etc. Well the officer went to tell them that if their dog comes back I will shoot the dog. The neighbors still insist the dog is not theirs and I can do whatever I want.

Did I mention that I caught a glimpse of the dog in our woods yesterday? The dog owner needs to be locked up.

 

[Iowa Roo Mom]

We'll keep our fingers crossed for your girl...

Keep us posted. Good job taking care of her, hopefully she'll be ok!

 

[horsejody]

Good luck. The dog(s) will be back. They always come back.

The owners of the dogs that killed my chickens did pay up (over $1000). They knew that I was tenacious enough to collect anyway. It pays to be the crazy neighbor. It's fairly easy to collect on small claims in Nebraska. Others should check their jurisdictions for the rules. In most places, you don't just have wage garnishment as your only avenue of collection anymore. In Nebraska you can list property that you know the person owns and have the Sheriff confiscate it and have a sale. The property taken can't be anything that would cause a hardship or impede their ability to make a living. You can't take the cars, appliances or computers, but you can take the BBQ grill, the porch swing, lawn ornaments or anything that looks good in their yard. If they have horses, take the saddles. Whatever. I didn't have to resort to this, but they knew I would. I was fortunate that they paid. They were even more fortunate that they paid.