OK, I gotta tell ya, I thought I was going to throw up when I read this story. I saw it yesterday somewhere but just didn’t have the heart to post something to awful on Christmas day. I do think it people need to know it’s happening though…
FERRIS — Authorities in a rural North Texas town can now shoot wild, roaming dogs, according to a new policy that has riled animal welfare advocates.
Created last week to curb its growing population of feral dogs, the policy permits Ferris authorities to use shotguns to kill aggressive dogs running loose.
Ferris City Manager David Chavez said the Ellis County town was becoming an unwanted pet dumping ground. People drive out to the country to release their pets when they no longer want them, but the starving animals breed, form packs and wind up scavenging for food, he said.
Animal rights advocates said there must be a better way to solve the problem.
“It’s unfathomable to me that the city of Ferris just outlandishly wants to go out and shoot these stray dogs,” Niloofar Asgharian, a board member of the nonprofit Animal Connection of Texas, said in a story in The Dallas Morning News. “It doesn’t do anything except that these dogs end up dying a slow, miserable death.”
Other methods failed
But Ferris Police Chief Frank Mooney said the city has tried other methods with little success. The chief said they would shoot only potentially violent dogs as a last resort — after attempts to humanely capture the animal had failed.
The Houston Chronicle has the rest.
Honestly, I don’t know what the solution is, but it seems like there’s got to be something better than going vigilante on the dogs. I will admit that I’ve cut back on walking my dogs because they’ve been attacked three times in the past few years. These are neighbor’s dogs and it’s pretty darn frightening, and I know I’d be even more frightened if they were feral dogs. I’m not dismissing feral dogs as a problem – it sounds like the town has a real reason to do something about them, but I’m afraid the Ferris, Texas is setting a precedent that, in my mind, is quite disturbing.
Technorati Tags: feral dogs, Ferris, Texas, dogs
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
OMG, that is horrible. I can imagine dog vigilantes going out to shoot dogs for sport without concern about what is around their target in open season.
Here in Alaska not only feral dogs are shot but over populated sled dog kennels historically shoot dogs as a population control, not to mention it is the only population control in many rural villages in Alaska. It’s not a subject that is gaining much support with other human problems so prevelent. I approached it with our Veterinary Board and was sent to the State Vet. I think that a proactive approach to dealing with the pet overpopulation will lead to better human conditions but it will also draw a lot of resistance.
http://www.alaskadognews.com
Can’t they bait humane traps with food? They say the dogs are hungry so… My concerns would be the judging of which dogs are “aggressive” (anything that looks remotely like a Pitbull?) and what about other animals/people who might be in the wrong place at the wrong time when the shotguns start blasting?
So if your dog runs away and gets lost, look out, because it may be seen as a wild dog and shot on site….how terrible.
Hmm. Should authorities be allowed to shoot the humans who are dumping the dogs? And as YesBiscuit commented, “aggression” is very subjected. This “law” just gives permission to the wrong kind of people to use weapons willy nilly – never a good idea.