University of Minnesota police kill loose dogs, flatten tires

The dog was running loose, trying to get away from University of Minnesota police who cornered it in a parking structure. No one reported the dog trying to eat people, just that he was running loose.



When the dog was cornered, an officer attempted to hit the dog with a taser. One of the nodes missed. He lunged at an officer, and another officer shot him multiple times.

Bullet fragments flattened tires.

Milwaukee police shotgun dog to death

A loose dog that officers spent awhile trying to collar is dead after a shotgun blast.

Toronto officer shoots dog in head

A dog escaped from his yard after being frightened by thunder. The next day, he approached an officer and, according to the officer, the dog attacked. This attack was so severe that the officer was not injured at all. He so destabilized by this dog that he was able to pull out his weapon and fire three shots at the dog, with only one hitting the dog (the bullet lodged in the dog's head).

Then, this dog was so dangerous that he ran away screaming and was easily lured out by his owner and taken to a vet hospital where he was expected to recover.

Nampa police shoot and kill one dog

Faced with two aggressive dogs, Nampa police chose to shoot and kill the more aggressive of the two.

Essex county officer pleads no guilty to killing dog

For previous entries on the Essex case.

Off-duty officer Michael Wootten has plead not guilty to charges of animal cruelty after he shot and killed a non-aggressive dog on the dog's own property, mere feet from a young child.

Amazingly (appallingly?) this man has not been placed on paid leave even though he has been charged with a crime.

The reality is that nothing is in question: There is no question that Officer Wootten took a loaded weapon onto another person's property and discharged that weapon within close proximity to a young child. There is also no question that the threat had passed - Wootten's dog is the one who was loose and off-leash, Wootten's dog is the one who initiatied contact with the now-dead dog on the now-dead dog's property. Wootten, after retrieving his errant dog should have done nothing more than taken his dog to a vet. He was, after all, at fault for allowing his dog to run loose.

But he didn't. He grabbed his weapon, walked back over to the property and shot the other dog dead.

That is not the type of behavior I want to see in police officers.

Auburn police officer shoots loose dog

An Auburn, New York police officer shot a dog once as he charged the officer. The dog had been running loose (apparently common for this dog). The dog nipped one child and attacked a smaller dog. When cornered, the dog charged the officer and, given the fact the dog had exhibited willingness to use teeth on skin, the officer shot at the dog. One shot - the bullet hit the dog in the leg and traveled through the chest. Animal control officers were able to subdue the dog with pepper spray and a catch pole. At the vet, the dog was euthanized.

ETA: The original article calls the dog a pit bull. The sister of the owner disputes that, saying the dog is actually a boxer/blue heeler mix. Fascinating confusion.

Also, the updated article states that the officer attempted to use a baton to subdue the dog before shooting him.

Ottawa cops cleared of killing dogs

In April, three officers shot and killed two loose dogs. The dogs were being walked by their owner off-leash when they took after a deer. Officers were called when one of the dogs charged a person. One dog may have attempted to attack an officer, at which point the dog was shot at.

The dogs were chased into a large field where, according to officers, the dogs charged aggressively. They were both shot. They were not dead but down and, instead of waiting for a bylaw officer or taking the animals to a vet, the officers decided to shoot each dog once in the head, killing them.

The sequences of events could have been prevented had the dogs been leashed.

Crazy dog shooting out of Australia

About a month ago, a family in Australia came home to find all three of their dogs missing. After a thorough search, it was suggested they contact police. When they did, they were horrified to find out what happened.

The dogs had been kept in the family's yard but got out. They had electrified, invisible fencing that failed. The three dogs wandered up a driveway where, in the yard, some goats lived. The owner of the goats called the police. Please to be remembering that the dogs never actually attacked the goats or people.

When the police officer arrived, the dogs approached her vehicle. She pepper-sprayed all three dogs. The dogs were not attacking and they backed away after they were pepper-sprayed.

Here's the part that breaks my heart: When animal control arrived, the dogs happily jumped into the back of his vehicle. He drove the dogs to another location, shot the two huskies point-blank in the head and then, because he felt "sorry" for the border collie did the correct thing and took her to the shelter. He dumped the two dogs bodies into a lime pit. I'm sorry, but if you have three aggressive dogs, they aren't going to jump happily into your vehicle. And even if the dogs *are* aggressive, once you have them safely confined, use the nifty device known as a catch-pole to transfer them from the vehicle to the shelter. You don't just shoot them in the head.

While the dogs did not have collars and tags, they DID have microchips. Apparently, the animal control officer thought he could just bypass the whole scanning of the dogs and kill them literally an hour after they had gotten loose because "The animal control officer had no reason to believe the dogs were microchipped". I'm with the family - that's pure rubbish.

I don't know what the laws in West Tamar are, but I can safely say this case was handled abhorrently. It's sue-worthy, in my opinion (at least in the US, it certainly would be). Even if the dogs were running loose, the moment they were safely confined is the same moment that shooting them in the head no longer becomes an option. I'm just appalled by how this was handled.

Delaware cops shoot dog during drug raid

A dog is recovering after being shot by Delaware police during a drug raid.

According to this article, the dog attacked the officer. This article states the dog charged the officer.

The officer was not bitten.

The other dog was safely confined in a bathroom and turned over to animal control. The shot dog is recovering at a veterinary hospital.

3 Chicago Heights officers shoot dog to death

A woman called police when her live-in boyfriend and a relative engaged in a heated argument. When police arrived, three officers entered the home. At some point, one of the dog's got out of his crate and approached officers (walked up or charged, depending on who you ask). According to the dog's owner, the dog stopped and, at that point, was shot a total of eight times. Two of the officers shot once, while a third officer shot the dog six times.

Several of the bullets embedded themselves into the floor, leaving pockmarks. The shooting occurred directly in front of the dog's owner with several other people present.

Warner Robins officer shoots at dog sixteen times on porch

I'm not quite clear on why this officer was on the porch in the first place. We have a dog who is on its own property approached by a police officer. The dog might have scratched the officer and may also have growled and barked, all normal behaviors for a dog on its own property. These warning behaviors should have been sufficient for the officer to back slowly away and remove himself from the property.

This barking and growling offended the officer so much that he shot the dog sixteen times, enough to require a reloading of his weapon. Even though the dog had backed up into the porch, whining and screaming. Even though there were people inside of the residence. Even though the dog did not actually try to bite the officer.

The dog did die after he suffered several seizures at the veterinarian.

DC police shoot dog, bullet ricochets, hits child in head

In DC, a family's dog got out of the house in view of the family. The family's son, a 12-yr-old, immediately ran after the dog to catch him. Unfortunately, he was also toting around a plastic toy gun that looked a lot like a real gun.

Someone called police who arrived, ordering the child to the ground. At some point, the dog must have seen what was going on and approached the officer. As usual in these cases, there are two disparaging reports. Police claim the dog charged the officer, while a neighbor who witnessed the arrest said the dog did not but simply crouched. Police claim a bullet did not ricochet and hit the child in the head, the child's family claim one did (and he went to the hospital, so I imagine there was a reason for that).

Update on Essex dog shooting

Earlier this month, an off-duty Essex police officer took it upon himself to shoot and kill a dog who had gotten into a fight on its own property with the officer's loose dog. The dog was killed on his own property within 10 feet of a 2-yr-old child. The dog was not killed during the fight but after when the officer took his dog back home, retrieved a gun and returned.

The update is that the officer is facing a measly citation for killing this dog. He is not facing any criminal charges for recklessly endangering the life of that 2-yr-old child. I don't think he's facing significant penalties for the animal cruelty charge - a citation is hardly punishment.

Officers kill three biting dogs

Three dogs in Warren, Ohio were running loose and attacked several people. One attack resulted in more than 200 stitches being required. The dogs had escaped from their yard.

When officers approached the dogs, they shot all three, killing them.

Dog shoots and kills restrained dog

Here's a case of the media really over-hyping a story

We have a dog running loose. The dog is easily restrained by people in a gas station and when police arrive, the guy shoots the dog in the head, killing him (also making it more difficult to test for rabies).