Dogs shot and killed by police have been "guilty" of nothing more menacing than wagging their tails, barking in greeting, or merely being in their own yard.
For instance, Arzy, a 14-month-old Newfoundland, Labrador and golden retriever mix, was shot between the eyes by a Louisiana police officer. The dog had been secured on a four-foot leash at the time he was shot. An independent witness testified that the dog never gave the officer any provocation to shoot him.
Seven, a St. Bernard, was shot repeatedly by Connecticut police in the presence of the dog's 12-year-old owner. Police, investigating an erroneous tip, had entered the propertywithout a warrantwhere the dog and her owner had been playing in the backyard, causing the dog to give chase.
Dutchess, a 2-year-old rescue dog, was shot three times in the head by Florida police as she ran out her front door. The officer had been approaching the house to inform the residents that their car door was open when the dog bounded out to greet him.
Payton, a 7-year-old black Labrador retriever, and 4-year-old Chase, also a black Lab, were shot and killed after a SWAT team mistakenly raided the mayor's home while searching for drugs. Mayor Calvo described being handcuffed and interrogated for hourswearing only underwear and sockssurrounded by the dogs' carcasses and pools of the dogs' blood.
Chihuahuas, among the smallest breed of dog (known as "purse" dogs), seem to really push cops over the edge.
In Arkansas, for example, a sheriff's deputy shot an "aggressive" chihuahua for barking repeatedly. The dog, Reese's, required surgery for a shattered jaw and a feeding tube to eat.
Same thing happened in Texas, except Trixiewho was on the other side of a fence from the officer didn't survive the shooting.
Let's put this in perspective, shall we?
We're being asked to believe that a police officer, fully armed, trained in combat and equipped to deal with the worst case scenario when it comes to violence, is so threatened by a yipping purse dog weighing less than 10 pounds that the only recourse is to shoot the dog?
If this is the temperament of police officers bred by the police state, we should all be worried.
Clearly, our four-legged friends are suffering at the hands of an inhumane police state in which the police have all the rights, the citizenry have very few rights, and our petsviewed by the courts as personal property like a car or a house, but far less valuablehave no rights at all.
It's time to rein in this abuse of power.
Ultimately, this comes down to betterand constant training in nonviolent tactics, serious consequences for those who engage in excessive force, and a seismic shift in how law enforcement agencies and the courts deal with those who transgress.
Many states are adopting laws to make canine training mandatory for police officers. After all, as the Washington Post points out, while "postal workers regularly encounter both vicious and gregarious dogs on their daily rounds" letter carriers don't kill dogs, even though they are bitten by the thousands every year. Instead, the Postal Service offers its employees training on how to avoid bites."
The Rutherford Institute is working on a program aimed at training police to deescalate their interactions with dogs rather than resorting to lethal force, while providing pet owners with legal resources to better protect the four-legged members of their household.
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