In August, a Missouri household’s canine, Parker, wandered away from the household dwelling throughout a fierce storm. When the neighbor who discovered the canine known as the police for assist, an officer shot him and threw his physique in a ditch, relatively than returning Parker to his household.
In response to a lawsuit filed this week by Parker’s house owners Tylla and Bryan Pennington, Stoddard County, Missouri, police officer Rodger Seal arrived at Hillary Mayberry’s dwelling after calling the sheriff’s workplace searching for assist for Parker. Mayberry had beforehand posted on Fb in regards to the discovered canine. However as an alternative of serving to Mayberry discover Parker’s house owners, and even taking her to a close-by shelter, Seal took the canine to a close-by wooded space and shot him.
The lawsuit claims Parker didn’t die instantly after being shot. As a substitute, Seal waited eight minutes earlier than firing a second shot, killing him. Seal then disposed of Parker’s physique by throwing it in a ditch.
The lawsuit states that there was no authorized justification for Seal to kill Parker. Though Stoddard County has a written coverage that enables officers to shoot a “harmful, sick or incapacitated animal,” Parker was fully wholesome and non-aggressive.
As a substitute, the criticism states that Seal “dedicated the crime of animal cruelty” when he shot the canine with out provocation and allowed him to “undergo for eight minutes after being shot the primary time earlier than defendant Seal shot Parker a second time, killing him .”
“On data and perception,” the criticism provides, “Defendant Stoddard County has an unwritten coverage, sample and follow of recurrently killing and disposing of canine” in rural areas.
Sadly, this incident is much from the primary time a police officer has killed an harmless household pet; it occurs so usually that it even has a “puppycide” label on it. Rode web site.
In November 2021, a Michigan cop shot a canine a number of instances. Footage of the incident exhibits that the pet in query was not aggressive, however was wagging its tail when it was shot. Final September, Detroit police killed a girl’s canine and dumped its physique in a rubbish can. A 2016 Rode analysis confirmed that Detroit police are particularly keen on killing canine; they shot a minimum of 25 in 2015 alone.
Final August, an Arkansas officer tried to just do that to shoot a Pomeranian – a breed that sometimes weighs solely 3 to 7 kilos – however missed and struck the canine’s proprietor. After the canine’s proprietor shouted that she had been shot, the officer tried to inform her that her canine had scratched her as an alternative.
“[Police] I haven’t got to be a canine coach,” mentioned Cynthia Bathurst, govt director of the animal welfare group Protected Humane. informed Rode in 2016. “They simply must know what to search for and defuse or handle the scenario with the assets out there. It is compassionate and the fitting factor to do. It is higher for neighborhood relations. And if that does not transfer them , the large lawsuits should be filed.”
