Family awaiting answers in dogs' shooting deaths

Some people shouldn't have guns! This guy appears to be one of those.

A friend of mine, Ken Bell, is a rancher in Lincoln, California where the past several years have had a ton of new homes built in the area and the newcomers think it's just dandy to let their dogs run wild.

So he shoots the dogs and one time had some woman come after him in a rage because he'd shot her dog - a Rottweiler - after it had chased one of his bulls into a ditch where it broke a leg and had to be put down.

She called the sheriffs on him and he happily sat there as they showed up. She id'd the dog in the bed of his pickup and then agreed that she'd seen it chase "his stupid cow".

The cop put that in the report which Rico used to bill her homeowners insurance $85,000 for the dead bull.

These particular dog owners seem to think that their dog has a right to chase other people's animals on other people's land - I just don't get that kind of arrogance.

I have a golden retreiver, killed a gopher once, when she sees deer or moose just barks like mad, usually wont attack but she charged a deer once. farmer might of been a little premature in his shooting of the animals, but I'm sure those dogs weren't just strolling around

If these Golden Retrievers were attacking or about to attack the livestock then I can just about understand how the killing might be justified but my issue is that the law seems to allow any farmer to blast away at anything from a chihuahua to a Siamese cat as long as it ventures anywhere onto their property without any legal recourse.

It is a sad story... If you live on 5 hectares of land, why where the dogs off of that property while you were away, and on the flip side, why would someone shoot Golden Retrievers??? Just calling them in a mad tone of voice should have done the trick too...

I believe the wording of the law in Alberta is harassing livestock, and the dogs just walking around a herd could be construed as harassment.

I believe the wording of the law in Alberta is harassing livestock, and the dogs just walking around a herd could be construed as harassment.

even the dogs barking at the livestock, the cows or whatever would get stressed, farmer shoots them.

I think this is a lesson to be learned to all pet owners, keep them on a leash or make sure they dont run away

Why should a farmer have to wait for dogs of an unknown temperment to harm his herd before he acts?

The onus of responsibility here is with the owner of the dogs who thought their dogs had a right to wander on other people's land.

FYI - cats that come through my yard and bother my pet chickens get a free trip to the pound.

There are a couple cats who pass through and don't bother the chickens and I leave them alone. But that's my choice because I'd be within my rights to take them to the pound, too.

Seems to me this farmer was trying to make a statement if he phoned animal control after he shot them. Usually the dead dog is dragged over and chucked into the bush and left for the coyotes.

Why should a farmer have to wait for dogs of an unknown temperment to harm his herd before he acts?

The onus of responsibility here is with the owner of the dogs who thought their dogs had a right to wander on other people's land.

FYI - cats that come through my yard and bother my pet chickens get a free trip to the pound.

There are a couple cats who pass through and don't bother the chickens and I leave them alone. But that's my choice because I'd be within my rights to take them to the pound, too.

Oh, I agree with you that the owner should have kept the dogs on their own property.

Maybe it has been the 1000th time these dogs are on his land, that is possible, maybe the farmer had warned 999 times.

Still, they didn't kill any cattle (yet), so to my Dutch way of thinking (where every property is fenced, or barbwired and guns are not allowed, cats roam freely through your garden and make a mess out of it, and nothing can be done about it, but ask the owners, who will think "f*ck you"..., and dogs are leashed) it is kinda harsh to shoot Golden Retrievers...

saw this on the local news

well this is more a case of poor judgement on the part of each involved ,first the owners let there children take the dogs for a walk by-themselves and they ran off.

second for the farmer , who should of asked himself if it was really necessary to shot the dogs , sure he has the legal right but they were only golden retrievers .

in the end it looks like this situation was one of those unfortuanate incidents which happened due to poor judgement and people not thinking .

City people tend to be crappy neighbors for rural folks.

They buy ranch or farm land and then build mansions on what had been productive land.

Then they proceed to complain about their neighbors cows that smell like cows.

They complain when farmers run harvesting equipment 24/7 trying to beat the weather.

They complain when the cows moo.

They complain when the crop dusters fly in low to seed or spray the crops.

They complain about the noise from the farm equipment.

Worse, these idiots SUE to try to make the farmers stop farming.

City people should stay in the city.

I live out in the country. I have a dog. Little Yogi. He's a Maltese. My property is adjacent to a hobby farm. The owner has a few horses and a few cows. These are expensive animals. Shortly after moving here, we were outside and yogi wandered off. I wasn't concerned until I heard him constantly barking. I looked up to see him running up and down the fence-line, on our side, and one of the colts doing the same on the other side of the fence. It seemed to me that they were having a great time. But all good things must come to an end! I hollered at yogi to 'come back' to no avail. He wasn't listening to me. I went over and got him and put him in the house for a while. Now, even though I don't put yogi on a leash, he is not allowed out of the house without me. Now when we are out, and yogi sees the horses and starts to bark at them, he gets a stern warning. The first few times that he headed in their direction, he was put back in the house. Now, although he will still bark at the horses, he stays close to me.Had 'Jim' witnessed yogi's behaviour, he may well have taken care of the situation in a totally different manner! Obviously, yogi isn't a physical threat to anything, but he certainly got that colt excited and there-by the colt could have 'caused himself' serious injury.

Out here, although pets are not required to have licences or be on leashes, they are not allowed to 'be at large'. Pet owners are expected to look after their pets and make sure that they are not a nuisance to anyone.
To suggest that people who live in the country 'call a by-law enfocement officer' is unrealistic. We have ONE constable to patrol several hundred square miles. The county office is only open 8-4, Mon-Fri. The rest of the time it's voice mail.

We do much the same here and there's still no end of idiots who think that, "Surely, the people who wrote the law weren't talking about me, were they?"