Texas town makes shooting dogs legal

[slim jim]

US Town Makes Shooting Dogs Legal



Animal rights groups are furious after a Texas town gave its authories the right to bear arms against wild dogs.


The controversial policy is the latest attempt to curb a growing population of feral dogs that are roaming the streets.
Since last week, authorities have been allowed to use shotguns to kill the 50 to 100 aggressive dogs running loose in the rural northern town of Ferris.
City manager David Chavez said the town had become a dumping ground for the unwanted pets.
The released animals breed, form packs and scavenge for food.
Police chief Frank Mooney says the town has tried other methods to protect its 2,300 residents with little success.
But animal rights advocates say the problem could be solved in better ways.
They argue the animals could be trapped, or punishment meted out on those who dump the dogs.
Ferris is about 20 miles south of Dallas in the Lone Star state.


US Texas Town Makes Shooting Dogs Legal: Animal Rights Groups Furious In Ferris, South Of Dallas | World News | Sky News

 

[Texan2]

People make a bigger stink of stray dogs getting killed than they do for humans....
I can't believe this is even news

 

[hoytinak]

I wish we could dispatch stray dogs around here. I live in a small town of about 200 people and others come from all around and drop off unwanted dogs here....there's prolly 60 strays running around here right now.

 

[kingofwylietx]

Perhaps the animal rights groups would accomplish more if they put their energy into solving the problem rather than stirring up a lot of media. Maybe they ought to head over there, collect all the dogs, and adopt them.

 

[Double Naught Spy]

It isn't exactly that Ferris has made shooting dogs legal given that it is only an option for LEOs.

 

[Texas1911]

I never thought it wasn't legal to shoot a dog. It's not considered a wandering animal like a cat.

 

[Bob Loblaw]

I can't believe what I'm hearing. I understand not wanting to take Peta's side, and I can understand if we were talking about strictly shooting aggressive strays, who pose a threat. But if they're running around shooting everything that wags, I'm a bit appalled. I am an owner of 2 strays, dropped off in the hill country. Granted, rabid or wounded is another story. But isn't it already legal to dispatch an animal that poses you a threat, be it four legged or two? Perhaps I don't understand the scope, or the whole story, but I'd pickup a phone to find it a home before I send it to meet its maker, simply because it has no collar. My grandfather used to run around with a boot and a pair of scissors, that would solve half the problem right there.

 

[txinvestigator]

Regardless of any City law; here is the state law;

Texas Penal Code
Sec. 42.092. CRUELTY TO NONLIVESTOCK ANIMALS. (a) In this section:
(1) "Abandon" includes abandoning an animal in the person's custody without making reasonable arrangements for assumption of custody by another person.
(2) "Animal" means a domesticated living creature, including any stray or feral cat or dog, and a wild living creature previously captured. The term does not include an uncaptured wild living creature or a livestock animal.
(3) "Cruel manner" includes a manner that causes or permits unjustified or unwarranted pain or suffering.
(4) "Custody" includes responsibility for the health, safety, and welfare of an animal subject to the person's care and control, regardless of ownership of the animal.
(5) "Depredation" has the meaning assigned by Section 71.001, Parks and Wildlife Code.
(6) "Livestock animal" has the meaning assigned by Section 42.09.
(7) "Necessary food, water, care, or shelter" includes food, water, care, or shelter provided to the extent required to maintain the animal in a state of good health.
(8) "Torture" includes any act that causes unjustifiable pain or suffering.
(b) A person commits an offense if the person intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly:
(1) tortures an animal or in a cruel manner kills or causes serious bodily injury to an animal;
(2) without the owner's effective consent, kills, administers poison to, or causes serious bodily injury to an animal;
(3) fails unreasonably to provide necessary food, water, care, or shelter for an animal in the person's custody;
(4) abandons unreasonably an animal in the person's custody;
(5) transports or confines an animal in a cruel manner;
(6) without the owner's effective consent, causes bodily injury to an animal;
(7) causes one animal to fight with another animal, if either animal is not a dog;
(8) uses a live animal as a lure in dog race training or in dog coursing on a racetrack; or
(9) seriously overworks an animal.
(c) An offense under Subsection (b)(3), (4), (5), (6), or (9) is a Class A misdemeanor, except that the offense is a state jail felony if the person has previously been convicted two times under this section, two times under Section 42.09, or one time under this section and one time under Section 42.09. An offense under Subsection (b)(1), (2), (7), or (8) is a state jail felony, except that the offense is a felony of the third degree if the person has previously been convicted two times under this section, two times under Section 42.09, or one time under this section and one time under Section 42.09.
(d) It is a defense to prosecution under this section that:
(1) the actor had a reasonable fear of bodily injury to the actor or to another person by a dangerous wild animal as defined by Section 822.101, Health and Safety Code; or
(2) the actor was engaged in bona fide experimentation for scientific research.
(e) It is a defense to prosecution under Subsection (b)(2) or (6) that:
(1) the animal was discovered on the person's property in the act of or after injuring or killing the person's livestock animals or damaging the person's crops and that the person killed or injured the animal at the time of this discovery; or
(2) the person killed or injured the animal within the scope of the person's employment as a public servant or in furtherance of activities or operations associated with electricity transmission or distribution, electricity generation or operations associated with the generation of electricity, or natural gas delivery.
(f) It is an exception to the application of this section that the conduct engaged in by the actor is a generally accepted and otherwise lawful:
(1) form of conduct occurring solely for the purpose of or in support of:
(A) fishing, hunting, or trapping; or
(B) wildlife management, wildlife or depredation control, or shooting preserve practices as regulated by state and federal law; or
(2) animal husbandry or agriculture practice involving livestock animals.
(g) This section does not create a civil cause of action for damages or enforcement of the section.

Generally it is illegal to shoot a Dog or even a wandering cat. Looks like Public Servants can. Humm.

 

[djspump2003]

See, this is weird since I thought Judge Judy covered this in an episode before Oprah came on the other day.

She (Judge Judy) ruled that if the animal posed a threat to the person or person's property they were on, then it was legal to dispatch them.

I guess that wasn't Texas, though, so it was legal there.

Sorry - just read through 42.09.d.1 and found that it is a legal defense for self defense if you catch the dog in the act. But how do you get the feral dog's owner's permission to poison it if it is a feral dog? By definition, feral means that the animal has returned to its wild state. Therefore, it would either be impossible to find the owner or there is no owner any longer.

 

[txinvestigator]

.

Sorry - just read through 42.09.d.1 and found that it is a legal defense for self defense if you catch the dog in the act.

In the act of what? A dog is NOT a dangerous wild animal as defined by Section 822.101, Health and Safety Code.

Texas Health and Safety Code
Sec. 822.101. DEFINITIONS. In this subchapter:
((4) "Dangerous wild animal" means:
(A) a lion;
(B) a tiger;
(C) an ocelot;
(D) a cougar;
(E) a leopard;
(F) a cheetah;
(G) a jaguar;
(H) a bobcat;
(I) a lynx;
(J) a serval;
(K) a caracal;
(L) a hyena;
(M) a bear;
(N) a coyote;
(O) a jackal;
(P) a baboon;
(Q) a chimpanzee;
(R) an orangutan;
(S) a gorilla; or
(T) any hybrid of an animal listed in this subdivision.

Nothing in chapter 42 allows the shooting of a dog.

But how do you get the feral dog's owner's permission to poison it if it is a feral dog? By definition, feral means that the animal has returned to its wild state. Therefore, it would either be impossible to find the owner or there is no owner any longer.

Yep

 

[kville79]

So if I see a:

(P) a baboon;
(Q) a chimpanzee;
(R) an orangutan;
(S) a gorilla;

in my back yard I can shoot it?


No but seriously, rural Texas wouldn't have the problem they do with strays and feral dogs if they had a proper spay and neuter program. Up in Groesbeck my friend (before she moved) used to take in dogs that where dumped, fix em', and find homes for them. I hate PETA as much as anyone with common sense, but that town came up with a real dumb solution to a real dumb problem.

 

[djspump2003]

txinvestigator -

I meant

(e) It is a defense to prosecution under Subsection (b)(2) or (6) that:
(1) the animal was discovered on the person's property in the act of or after injuring or killing the person's livestock animals or damaging the person's crops and that the person killed or injured the animal at the time of this discovery; or

not part d.1 - sorry bout that. I should have also referred back up to 822.101 for the definition of wild animal.