Town Split On Dog Shootings

[Maxiewolf]

http://www.themercury.com.au/article/2012/03/09/307601_tasmania-news.html

TWO pet dogs have been left dead by the roadside with a morbid warning for others to keep their animals locked up.

The community of Collinsvale was divided yesterday after discovering a resident had shot two dogs that had attacked chickens and a rooster on his property.

The man shot the dogs, both terriers, on Wednesday, placed them in a garbage bag and left them outside the church on the corner of Church Rd and Collinsvale Rd in Collinsvale with a note warning others to keep their dogs locked up.

The warning was left just a stone's throw from the dogs' owner's home. It warned if dogs were not locked up, the writer of the note would take pleasure in shooting the dogs.

A passer-by made the gruesome discovery.

Glenorchy Police confirmed yesterday the author of the note had owned up to shooting the dogs.

Inspector Grant Twining said that at this stage the man who had shot the dogs would not be charged.

Under Tasmanian law, a person can kill a dog if they see the dog attacking an- other animal - or if the dog is found roaming on a primary production farm they own. The person must then notify the general manager of the local council within 14 days of the incident.

Residents who spoke to the Mercury yesterday requested their names not be used for fear their neighbour would know which side they were taking. One person said dog attacks on other people's animals were not uncommon.

However, others expressed disgust at the way the dogs were left on the side of the road with the sign.

"This could really split the town," another resident said.

The RSPCA yesterday described the actions of the man who killed the dogs as "unacceptable".

"We really do not support people taking this sort of vigilante justice," the RSPCA chief executive Ben Sturges said yesterday.

Mr Sturges said that the incident appeared to be an isolated incident and the reaction was "overzealous".

"We are very disappointed this action has been taken."

TFGA president Jan Davis said yesterday she was not in a position to comment about the Collinsvale incident.

However, she did say that domestic animal attacks on livestock were becoming a "growing" problem.

"We are having more dog attacks on livestock and a growing number of attacks by cats," she said.

Police want anyone with information relating to the killings to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000. Callers can remain anonymous and may be entitled to a reward.

One question Id liek to ask is... did the dogs escape as a once off? Where they serial escapists? Mind you by the sounds of the letter at the reaction perhaps this is not the first time. RIP Poor Chickys and Doggies. Very sad it had to happen.

And it is surprising that with a law like that, that people would let their dogs roam if they had a high risk of being shot for worrying a person or an animal. Id be interested to see what the dog attack/escape statistics are for that area.

[Linda K]

sadly, this is not uncommon, it is a problem we have with our neighbours, who have 2 dogs, one a lab x, the other a staffy cross (looks like also has some boxer in it perhaps?), who are constantly on our property, and they do not give a stuff, they have already had 2 dogs shot by other neighbours when they have attacked their livestock (which they can do, as here in Vic, in our region according to our ranger, if you are on farmland and have livestock, including deer, horses, cattle sheep, goats etc, which all our other neighbours do and wandering dogs are a problem), and dogs are at loose, and bothering the livestock, we are able to shoot them. Does not matter to our neighbours, who are well known to the local cops (which tells me more than I need to know about their character), they just go and get another one anyway - how hard is it to put up a fence FFS. Our farrier who lives up the road on 600 acres, told us about his battle with his neighbour, and repeatedly had a dog coming onto his property and chasing the poddy calves and biting at them - when he chased the dog home, and warned the owner, he was told that this dog never left his side (despite the fact the dog had only just got there and was clearly out of breath from being chased), the next day when the farrier spotted the dog in the paddock with his livestock, he shot the dog, and then left the body on the front fence next to the foxes he had also shot. When the neighbour saw his dog there, he came over and abused the farrier for shooting his dog, the farrier then said it can;t have been yours mate, as you said your dog never left your place, must have been someone elses. Footnote to the story - said neighbour bought a new dog, and fenced his yard so the dog could not wander - even more surprising - the neighbour is very high up in the police force, so you would think would have had some clue about living in a rural area and expecting a pet dog to stay at your place without making any effort at confining them is just not going to work, and you do need to be a bit more responsible. Sadly for that dog, his owner had not been responsible enough to care. As for our neighbours, and their constantly wandering dogs, whom our council does not care about taking action or following up on reports of, the neighbours don't give a stuff about confining, and I am sick of dealing with them chasing our horses and my sons (and sadly we don't have a gun), I am totally sick of their dogs, but out of options - just hope they annoy one of the other farmers enough who does have a gun.

[BlackJaq]

I don't think leaving the dogs in a public place with a note attached was a very sensible way of making a stand, but if roaming dogs were threatening my lifestock and owners could not be indentified or did not care to detain their dogs, I would also shoot repeat offenders (i.e. dogs, not owners lol) where it is legal.

Obviously nobody wants this to happen to their pets and if it was the first time for a usually well contained dog, then that dog and owner should get a second chance, but honestly, who likes to have their animals harrassed by roaming dogs? And who would not want to protect their own animals?

In my opinion those members of the community who are against the shooting of dogs that harrass other people's animals have likely never had the pleasure of having their chickens, sheep and assorted other pets killed by someone else's dogs.

And it is surprising that with a law like that, that people would let their dogs roam if they had a high risk of being shot for worrying a person or an animal. Id be interested to see what the dog attack/escape statistics are for that area.

I believe you will find that those people who do not bother to contain their dogs either believe that many other laws also do not apply to them, or they simply don't care about their dogs enough to be bothered by the potential loss.

Usually it is pointless to attempt to speak to those kind of owners, as they will make no effort to contain their dogs in the future.

It is a different story for those whose dog accidentally slipped through the gate the once or got loose in similar circumstances of course.

Edited March 9, 2012 by BlackJaq

[dog_fan]

Shooting a dog is quick and the dog does not suffer, unlike the animals that are mauled and die a slow death when hunted by dogs.

I totally understand a farmer shooting dogs that trespass onto his land.

[BlackJaq]

Shooting a dog is quick and the dog does not suffer, unlike the animals that are mauled and die a slow death when hunted by dogs.

I totally understand a farmer shooting dogs that trespass onto his land.

Agreed, I don't think death by kill shot is a bad death. If the person delivering the shot can shoot that is.

A miss may cause some really horrific injuries though.

[Guest Arcane]

It's not different for the people who's dog gets out just once. If it attacks or harasses stock, the 'once' is irrelevant.

Even if a dog does not get that close or put a single scratch on livestock, just their presence is enough to make animals abort, separate babies from their mothers, put dairy cows out of milk, spook a horse into a fence etc etc. A farmer does not need to see his animals ripped to bits to justify shooting ANY dog that is having ANY impact on his stock.

Yes I live in a rural location. I do everything & more to ensure my dogs don't end up in that situation, but if they did, even if it was because some one accidentaly let them or whatever, I would just have to suck it up.

[casowner]

After having over 10 sheep, my neighbours losing a show yearling and another horse injured in the past few months due to neglectful owners allowing their 2 dogs to roam when they came up on weekends I understand the persons action to shoot the dogs. Luckily for the two in my instance they were caught on my property by another neighbour and the owners contacted and warned. If we were home or my neighbours with the horses caught them there would have been a different outcome

[dog_fan]

It's not different for the people who's dog gets out just once. If it attacks or harasses stock, the 'once' is irrelevant.

Even if a dog does not get that close or put a single scratch on livestock, just their presence is enough to make animals abort, separate babies from their mothers, put dairy cows out of milk, spook a horse into a fence etc etc. A farmer does not need to see his animals ripped to bits to justify shooting ANY dog that is having ANY impact on his stock.

Yes I live in a rural location. I do everything & more to ensure my dogs don't end up in that situation, but if they did, even if it was because some one accidentaly let them or whatever, I would just have to suck it up.

I agree.

[Souff]

Shooting a dog is quick and the dog does not suffer, unlike the animals that are mauled and die a slow death when hunted by dogs.

I totally understand a farmer shooting dogs that trespass onto his land.

I also understand that it is necessary and I agree with your comments.

I do not agree with the shooter's actions in leaving 2 dead dogs in a plastic bag in town though.

Dig a hole and bury them on the property, then leave a note in town perhaps. That is enough.

Sadly, there are too many owners in semi-rural places like Collinsville who are a bit too relaxed about dog laws and they don't make sure that their dogs stay at home. It is not their poultry or stock that die a horrible death by being mauled to death. If it were, then they would make sure that their dogs did not roam.

These 2 dogs have paid the highest price for what they saw as a bit of fun, and it is their owners who are to blame for not making sure they were safe at home.

Souff

[Peace_Of_Mind]

I don’t agree with the way he left the two dead dogs in a plastic bag outside a church to make his point.

I understand his reasons for shooting the dogs – very unfortunate.

I hope the poor dogs did not suffer.

RIP

[dog-owner]

They were my dogs that were shot.

Our landlord accidently left the gate open when he was doing some maintenance on the back of our house.

They were securely in their yard apart from this instance.

Our problem is not with the law because we agree with the farmers rights to protect their livestock, but it is with the way it was executed.

We would have been fine (still devastated obviously) with him shooting them CLEANLY on his property and leaving their bodies where they lay (which to my understanding is the law) and contacting relevant authorities. Or he could have contained them, contacted us and we would have compensated him for the chickens and if he insisted on the dogs being destroyed (as is his right and we agree with it) we would have loved the chance to say bye to our dogs and taken them to our local vet to be destroyed that way.

The sign was so distressing and i will not repeat what was written. The media has not been told all the details that were on the sign but it was sick.

At the end of the day, what our dogs did was wrong, we know that - i just hope that our dogs and also the chickens didnt suffer too much.

[Staffyluv]

My sister lost a lovely dog a few years back because her husband was against desexing 'male' dogs...

Tex was visiting a farmers border collie that was on heat... The farmer told her hubby to keep his dog off the property or he would shoot Tex...

3 warnings later, Tex was shot...

Sadly this is not uncommon but it is every primary producers right to protect their livestock...

[StaffordLUV]

if they had of been my chickens the dogs would have been shot and disposed of, then a notice in the paper or community notice board that any dogs caught killing stock on my property (not just roaming as dogs dont understand the whole boundary thing) would be dealt with in the same manner.

I dont care if its a one off or not the fact of the matter is your dogs caused the death ( and a horrid death as well) to other living creatures and should be dealt with in this manner.

How was the farmer suppose to deal with 2 hyped up terriers ripping apart is chickens??

A few years ago on my parents farm my neighbours had a beautiful lab that used roam the farms in our area. Countless warnings from farmers failed to deter the owners to keep him locked up, while out by himself he never harmed sheep or chickens but one night while we were visiting mum and dad and camping in the paddocks we heard dogs barking and found the lab and 3 other dogs, a shepherd x and 3 kelpie xs chasing the sheep.

A spotlight was quickly found and the dogs shot on the spot.

we lost 5 pregnant ewes that night.

The next morning the lab was returned to the owners and they had the hide to be pissed my dad had shot him!!

he was then asked to pay part of what the ewes were worth.

The owners of the other dogs we never found.

a friend is currently going thru a similar thing trying to get compensation out of an owner whose dogs killed 25 breeding rats in her avairies.

The owner is fighting it saying they are "only rats" we both breed fancy rats and i can tell you they arent "only rats" ALOT of money and time went into breeding the varieties she has now lost.

People need to take responsibilty for their dogs.

Keep your dogs locked up and this type of thing wont happen again.

RIP dogs and RIP chookies.

[StaffordLUV]

oh and I would be charging you for the cost of replacing the chickens and the price of the ammo used to shot the dogs. ;)

[Maxiewolf]

I think Dog-Owner is very understanding of the situation, and is within their right to be upset at the way the dogs where disposed of. I would be horrified if a couple of children had found the dead dogs. But against he chicken owner admired he did the wrong thing in that respect.

Sad tragedy all round.

[rusty&biscuit]

Wow, I can't even begin to imagine what I would've done in this situation. Of course any person has every right to shoot any animal/s harming their own pets/livestock. I just can't imagine, if someone had left my gate open or something, and my baby boy was shot. I really do feel for the owner of the dogs...I would be devastated. RIP doggies and chookies

[Dame Aussie]

Very sad, and very petty behaviour from the farmer, of course he had the right to do what he did, but there was no need to rub it in like that.

If they were my dogs I would be furious.

RIP all animals involved.

[Angeluca]

In qld it is the same, property owners have the right to protect their property. Don't even need to keep the evidence. Got a lady round the road who has had her son shoot dogs cause they killed her prize chickens. Only problem no proof there was even chooks on her property recently. she had my two once, but i drove onto the property and took them back while she was at work. I told the police i did it he said I was retrieving my property and nothing would come of it.

Regardless I have goldies and looking at them running through the back paddock they could easily be mistaken for dingos which i know are in the area cause i almost stood on one. Cute story lol! i was checking the perimeter cause i was bringing a stallion onto the property and i was walking back up a deer trial and he was curled up in the tiniest ball he looked up when a stood on a stick yawned and looked over his shoulder, then i'm preety sure the poor thing had a heart attack, he jumped yelped and ran off so fast.

Point is i know my dogs won't attack chooks but with 3 2000+ acre properties in a 10k radius it is not worth the risk.

[casowner]

Angeluca one of the dogs that created the carnage around here was an elderly lab that the owners swore wouldn't hurt a fly. We recently stopped and caught a stunning young goldie that had bailed up a ewe and lamb and drove around and found the property it came from. 6 weeks later there were lost signs up for it, I am guessing the other property owners got tired of the owners thinking it wouldn't do anything other than play. I am glad you don't take risks as that is the responsible thing to do sadly many others don't

[dog-owner]

oh and I would be charging you for the cost of replacing the chickens and the price of the ammo used to shot the dogs. ;)

charming.

If you read my post at all you would have noticed that I AGREE with the farmers rights, I would have COMPENSATED him for the chickens and also the ammo as you so kindly stated, I DIDNT AGREE with the way it went about.

You have no idea what the sign said, you have no idea how many shots went into the dogs and you have no idea how many times I have actually stuck up for this fellow around this community because the majority of the community wants pay back on him for how he went about it.

I am amazed at some of the comments on forums such as this when the majority of people agree with me about agreeing with his rights but wishing he had done it in a more civilised manner and then i have to read comments such as yours with a little smiley/wink face at the end of a post.

As i said....charming.

Edited March 11, 2012 by dog-owner