This is just flat out crazy.......

[Frozen Feathers]

No this man should not be prosecuted and here's why...Leash law, leash law, leash law. Every state has one and if you think yours doesn't think again. The dog owners are obviously at fault for not keeping their animals restrained. It's the dog's owners responsibility to keep track of their animals. Everyone has the right to protect their property and if you don't then their is something wrong. Sorry, but I wouldn't take the wait and see approach either, I'm not going to wait until the dogs have killed half (or even one) of my chickens or bit myself or a member of my family. Don't get me wrong, I love dogs, especially mine, but dogs are not people, they are predators and should be treated as such.

 

[missusduray]

If there were a stray dog that i didnt know running toward my chickens, cat, dog or god forbid, my kids...I wouldnt hesitate to shoot it. I dont trust animals that I dont know. Just like the stray cats that roam into my yard and fight with my cat. They too meet the end of a gun. I love dogs and I have one. I have also owned several. I have not had to shoot a dog yet. Thank goodness that I have good neighbors that keep their dogs contained too. I do not allow my dog to run free even though we live in the country on our own 32 acres.
I feel for the owners of the dogs that got shot. It is an awful thing to loose an animal.
I feel for the man with the chickens. To him I am sure that they were just as important as the dogs were to the other people.
How do you justify what is more important? The dogs or the chickens? The chicken farmer thinks his chickens are important and the dog owner thinks that the dogs are important. The big difference here is that the chicken owner cared enough to keep his animals contained on his own property and the same can not be said for the owners of the dogs. If the owners of the dogs didnt want anything to happen to the dogs then they should have kept them under control. It is to bad that they got shot, but if they wanted to keep them safe then they should have kept them leashed or on their property.
Kristyne
Edited to add: This is not a personal attack on any of the above posts, this is just my honest opinion after reading the article.

 

[Dwightm]

Personally, I think it should be our right to dictate what goes on with your own property. After all, Most of us work very hard for the things we have. No one has the right to come and take that away. I can relate to what you are saying. I have neighbors that let their dogs run loose. They had two but just recently add another. It looks like a ROT.(puppie). They tore my sons slip and slide up the same night he got it for his birthday. He was very upset. They recently got their kids an inflatable pool with a big slide and things on it and my son looked at me and said,"Dad that's not fair, their dogs tear my things up and they get something like that." Things like that really make you want to take control of the situation. I know it sounds simple but, if a neighbors dog can come on your land and kill chickens and nothing gets done about it, who's to say the neighbor himself could'nt come and tear down the chicken coop. Would anything be done about that? I am a firm believer that most of the laws that are made is to protect the crimanal. Sorry if I sound a little upset about this, but I do think we have the right to protect what we have worked so hard to get. By the way, I have a great pyrenees that I keep in a pin out of respect for my neighbors. I would love to be able to turn him loose and let him run. It come down to people respecting people.

 

[speckledhen]

You know, I think we've pretty well exhausted this subject and without it getting out of hand, too. Maybe what we need to do now is follow the story and see what actually happens to this man and/or to the neighbors. It will be interesting to see how it all plays out in the end. With human beings involved, there's no telling, LOL.

 

[HobbyChickener]

I would like to know where to follow the story or have the originator keep us posted.

 

[DuckLady]

Good thinking.
Thanks everyone for not turning this thread ugly!

Follow the link in the original post. It takes you to links for updates.
Thank you!