[Damfino]

I have a friend who is facing down a felony "animal cruelty" charge for shooting two of her neighbor's pit bulls that came on her property recently. She killed one and winged the other. My poor friend has been at the mercy of these dogs for more than a year. Her neighbor had a pit bull that had puppies and he never found homes for them or bothered to contain them. These dogs have been menacing the entire neighborhood ever since and my friend has felt like a hostage in her own home. Her own dog was attacked last year and had extensive vet bills. The dogs recently cornered an elderly person in their neighborhood. The police and animal control have been out numerous times and the owner has been warned repeatedly, but nothing has ever actually been done about the dogs. Finally my friend ended up shooting two of the dogs when they came on her property, but because they weren't actually in the act of attacking her or her animals, the cop slapped her with an animal cruelty charge!

If dogs with a violent history have been running in a pack and menacing the neighborhood, I don't see how shooting them on your property is cause for a criminal charge! If you wait until they are already attacking you, it's probably too late to grab your gun. And if you wait until they're attacking your animals, the odds of you accidentally hitting your own pet is really high. I'm angry that the police would charge my friend with animal cruelty when they know full well that these dogs have been threatening the neighborhood for over a year and have already seriously injured my friend's dog. My friend is afraid to go out of her house unarmed, she's afraid to ride her horse from her own property, she can't let her dog outside unsupervised, she can't let her grandsons come over to her house and if they do they can't play outdoors. It's a nightmare situation. My friend hired a lawyer and I hope she wins her case, but if she loses she could have her animals taken away from her. I can't believe the law is this backwards! Just had to vent...

 

[AndersonRanch]

People are so out of touch with reality especially when it comes to dogs any more. How did they even know she was the one that shot them? I’m not a liar but around here no matter what the story is we never saw anyone’s dogs.
I sure hope that she gets a judge that has some freaking common sense in this and can see that your friend was in the right. I gave 2 stray dogs a pass before and it back fired badly so I am totally on your friends side. Her and her animals well being is more important then dogs with irresponsible owners!

 

[Moers kiko boars]

Maybe as a friend. You could puchase her "animals for a sum of $1.00 each". But leave them on her property, under her care, until this is finished. Then she wouldnt have any animals to lose. ( per say) but next time. Dont tell anyone who shot what dog..just bury it.

 

[Damfino]

The problem is the neighbors heard her shoot the dogs and the wounded one ran straight home from her house so there was no possibility of "shoot, shovel, shut up."

Luckily the lawyer thinks my friend will win her case, but it's frustrating that she has to deal with this at all.

 

[ksalvagno]

That is terrible. Why do the jerks seem to get away with things. I pray your friend wins her case.

 

[GoofyGoat]

Good grief, those cops should have taken a better look at the history of the dogs. She's already been terrorized by them and had extensive vet bills for her dog who they attacked. I'd of done the same thing.
I really hope she wins this! It's ridiculous that it's even gotten this far. I agree with @Moers kiko boars that she should temporarily "sell" her critters to protect them just in case the worst happens and she gets a city slicker judge or worse a judge who transferred from a non-agricultural area because their taxes were to high (CA,NYC)
Praying for your friends victory in court !

 

[SalteyLove]

Hoping that particular police officer wasn't familiar with the history at the time of the incident but that after review it's clear that they were a threat. I sure hope she gets her legal fees and maybe even the veterinary costs from the previous attack back.

 

[toth boer goats]

Get a petition signed by all your neighbors. I forget how many you need.

That is if all want to help fight against this with your friend, So those dogs are stopped.

Everyone who can get a record of calling the authorities, days and times it happened each time.
Have pictures/videos of injuries of animals or death, need to get their evidence together.
Sounds like it all has to be presented in court.
The neighborhood may have to go to court and add to the case.

I am sorry your friend is being treated that way. I would of done the same.

 

[Damfino]

I went riding with my friend this morning and it sounds like her lawyer thinks there are very good odds that the DA will drop the case. There have been multiple complaints about these dogs from several others in the neighborhood so the dogs are clearly an ongoing problem. In fact, it sounds like the owner is going in for an arraignment this week or next, and my friend is pretty sure it's over some other incident with those dogs. It sounds like the one cop who charged my friend is out of her depth. The other officer who got involved later said my friend was in the right. On the plus side, a new neighbor just moved in across the street from the person with the bad dogs, and this guy is an ex-cop who my friend really likes. She spoke with the fellow about the dog problem and it sounds like he's not going to put up with any nonsense. On the plus side, there are only two dogs left. Originally there were five--a Pyrenees cross and four pit bulls (mother and three grown pups). The Pyrenees and one of the pit bulls disappeared sometime over the summer. My friend killed one of the pits, so now there are only two and one is wounded.

 

[ksalvagno]

That is good news.

 

[Goats Rock]

I hope she wins. ( actually, no one wins, but I hope your friend does not get convicted).
Not all dogs are sweet little lap dogs. If dogs are running free with no boundaries, they are usually predators and have to be treated as such.

 

[Tanya]

I love animals and am pro life, but if my animals are threatened by an animal not controlled I will not hesitate to protect tgem. Especially if my animals cannot defend themselves. I am sorry your friend is facing this.

 

[toth boer goats]

Rooting for her.

Sounds promising.

 

[Feira426]

Ugh, so terrible. I hope she is treated fairly and isn’t convicted. That’s ridiculous. And I hope something can be done about the neighbor with the dogs. This is why I want to live in the middle of nowhere!

 

[Nommie Bringeruvda Noms]

We had a massacre of half of our chickens, last year, and let it be known that the owner of the 2 dogs could add us to the list of neighbors who would not hesitate to shoot, if her dogs ever came on our land, again. We still had/ have other critters to protect. Shortly afterward, they moved, so there was no longer an issue. I'm sure your friend will be vindicated!

 

[Boers4ever]

Wow I’m rooting for your friend! That’s awful!
Quick story. So we had some neighbors down the road that were really trashy and had like 10 medium to large sized dogs. Well they were far enough away that we didn’t pay much attention to them besides the occasional comment about their trashiness. Well one day we noticed that they had packed up and left their house. No dogs in sight, so we figured that they got kicked out of their rent house. Any way, about a week later I saw a bunch of those dogs in our pasture. So I chased them off and didn’t think much more about it... until that evening when we found a newborn calf half eaten in our pasture. The poor mother was so distraught. We went to the old neighbors house and found the dogs there covered in blood. Anyway, after dealing with the whole law and animal protection service thing, we found out that they had MOVED and LEFT THEIR DOGS THERE TO STARVE!!!!!!! What’s wrong with those people?! No wonder those dogs killed that calf! They were starving. Poor things. The owners came back and got the dogs and then left again. I really hate to think about what happened to them after that.
Anyway, rant and story over now. What horrible people are in the world. Thank goodness that there are good people too.

 

[Nigerian dwarf goat]

Ugh I hope your friend wins! That really sucks. I would have done the same exact thing.

 

[Tanya]

Here is a complete opposite look. Growing up on a chicken farm as a child my father could never shoot another animal. Kulling chickens for the meat market was as far as he could go. So when the neighbors collies came over one day to help themselves, he politely leashed them and trained them to watch over our chickens. Two years but in the end Milo and spot were brilliant.
A once in a blue moon thing. And the neighbor had no clue. He never botheted looking for them either

 

[Damfino]

Collies are one thing... Pit Bulls are something entirely different. Trying to put a leash on one might be an invitation for them to tear your arm off.

 

[Tanya]

Collies are one thing... Pit Bulls are something entirely different. Trying to put a leash on one might be an invitation for them to tear your arm off.

I agree. Especially if they are raised not to respect bounderies.