Cop Faces Trial for Killing Dog

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http://www.apbnews.com/cjprofessionals/behindthebadge/2000/05/11/dogshot0511_01.html

Shot Animal 11 Days After it Mauled His Daughter

May 11, 2000

By Randy Wyles

GAINESVILLE, Ga. (APBnews.com) -- A Gainseville police officer charged with killing a dog that mauled his 10-year-old daughter will face trial on animal cruelty charges.

Kenneth Cannon, 31, has been ordered to stand trial in Hall County State Court for animal cruelty, as well as for discharging a weapon within 50 yards of a roadway, according to the Hall County Magistrate's Office. Both charges are misdemeanors, but if convicted, the retired Marine could face up to two years in jail and a $2,000 fine.

During a three-hour hearing Wednesday in Magistrate Court, Cannon told the judge that he shot the mixed-breed German shepherd twice with an AR-15 assault rifle, 11 days after it attacked his daughter, Amber. Cannon told the court he'd repeatedly asked animal control officials to remove the dog, but they refused, citing procedural problems. Cannon said he felt the dog was a threat to others.

The girl's head, chest, shoulder and arm were severely injured during the attack, requiring a total of 18 stitches. According to employees of Magistrate Court, the child told the judge she had nightmares and feared the dog would attack her again, so she asked her father to kill the animal.

Quarantined after attack

The dog's owner, Linda Carpenter took her dog, named Bud, to be quarantined by a local veterinarian for eight days to observe the animal for symptoms of rabies.

But, finding the dog was not infected, he was returned to the neighborhood, said Carpenter, who refused to discuss any other matters in the case.

Meanwhile, the Gainseville Police Department has placed Cannon on paid leave, though Police Chief Frank Hooper would not discuss the specific reasons behind the move.

No trial date has been set, though a clerk with the county solicitor's office told APBnews.com the matter should go to court within 60 days.

Randy Wyles is an APBnews.com correspondent in Georgia.

©Copyright 2000 APB Online, Inc.

And then we have: http://www.sacbee.com/news/news/local03_20000513.html

"Robert Newman, a member of the Animal Legal Defense Fund in Orange County, says he's drafting a bill to let California pet owners sue for emotional distress and punitive damages. It would be a step, he says, toward ending the legal classification of pets as property.

Newman is thinking of asking Assembly Judiciary Committee Chairman Sheila Kuehl to carry it.

Kuehl was unaware of the proposal. But she says, "I believe there is a growing sense that we, as a species in charge, have to examine how we protect animals."

She views setting more comprehensive standards for human behavior toward animals as the starting point and currently is carrying a bill to prohibit inhumane killing at live animal markets.

But Kuehl calls recognition of animals' intrinsic rights "a hundred-year struggle."

If the law isn't ready, Wise is. He thinks chimps and bonobos are entitled to "legal personhood" now because science knows enough about their minds, though he says a lawsuit may be 10 years in the future.

Wise's new book, "Rattling the Cage," has been called "the animals' Magna Carta" by Jane Goodall, the famous primate researcher.

The rights of other animals also should be recognized, the books says, if and when they are found to possess "autonomy," the ability to form beliefs and desires and then to act on them. In other words, to have minds.

The rights Wise wants to grant are those that serve the animals' fundamental interests -- certainly liberty and bodily integrity, maybe freedom to reproduce and keep their offspring.

And maybe a lot more.

Socializing with humans "seems to ignite an explosion in cognitive powers in (apes') minds," much as it does in children, Wise said in an interview.

Knowing that, he asks, do we have an obligation to educate them? He doesn't know the answer."



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The New World Order has a Third Reich odor.
 
"During a three-hour hearing Wednesday in Magistrate Court, Cannon told the judge that he shot the mixed-breed German shepherd twice with an AR-15 assault rifle, 11 days after it attacked his daughter, Amber."

I sympathize with his anger, but he broke the law. Like it or not as a sworn officer he should know better than to kill a dog that wasn't presenting imminent danger to him or his loved ones. His best course of action would've been tp file a civil suit against the dog's owners and the city.

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So many pistols, so little money.
 
His best course of action would have been to shot it with a 22 Aguila at night, from a car with the lights out and not said a damn thing about it.
 
Is everyone missing the point her?!?

This dog mauled a child and after a quarentine was returned to the same person that allowed this to happen in the first place.

Animal Control would do nothing because of procedural reason(?) whatever the hell that is and this parent recoginized the danger of the situation and took action.

It's a freekin' dog damm it and a proven "Bad Dog" at that.

What's more inportant(?), the dog or the neighborhood children?

BTW, I'm a "dog person", Yellow Lab and Doberman. Both dogs are loving and friendly to everyone. But, rest assured that if one ever mauled a kid you would not have to quarinten it to check for rabies, you chould have the information from it corpse.

Both dogs are treated like children or royality but they're DOGS DAMMIT and PEOPLE COME FIRST!

As for those people that want to attach human rights to animals starting with our furry primate friends, put 'em in the cage with the "American Tourister Gorilla" and see if they still want to give them their rights!

I don't believe in amimal cruelity but those folks believe human cruelity is allowed in the name of animal protection. All I can say to them is: "Bambi was a cartoon NOT a documentry!"
 
Ditto what Coastie said.... We own 7 dogs currently and I care for all of them but if one of them attacked my little girl they would not see the sun set. They are dogs!!!

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WFM
Life NRA, LLEA, Quail Unlimited,Ducks Unlimited
 
I agree fully with shooting the dog, although I am a dog lover. Unfortunately, he waited too long. I would have shot or killed the dog with whatever was handy at the time of the attack. If I was not there at the time, I would probably have had to resort to a lawsuit. I have dogs now, but will not tolerate one who even snaps at my two-year old child and I do not care what the child does...the dog had best run away rather than bite!
 
Big time dog person, can't stand to be without a dog. But if one of my beagles drew blood on a kid, I'd be looking for a replacement dog the next day.

What happened here, is that the guy waited 10days 23hours &59minutes too late to kill the dog. He was wrong to kill it so long after the fact; but I sympathize with him and not the dog. Especially not the dog-owner who should have had the dog put down!

All this animal rights activists stuff makes me want to hurl. Dern cats have more rights that a southern born white boy nowdays. my $.02.

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Know Yourself, Know Your Weapon, Know Your Enemy; then Know Victory! ---DaHaMac
 
The owner should have put the dog down on sheer principle and honor. The owner didn't. I don't blame the father one bit, other than being so overt, but, then again, we make the best decisions we can at the time we make them. All this man knew was the dog mauled his daughter. His daughter was scared. His daughter would cease being scared by this particualr dog if it were put down. He put it down.

Screw it. If the dog wanted to live, maybe he should have adapted to the other side of the Darwinian bell curve.
 
If it was my dog and it mauled a child... I would have been the one to shoot it.
I like many dogs. Not a big Dog Guy though... Rikwriter and 6forsures comments are right on.

Animal Rights my Arse - A dog that attacks people is no longer Man's Best Friend. (Qualifying remark - Police Dogs that are well trained do indeed have there place but those Canines are like K9 SpecWar Operators - Very Special and CONTROLLED)
 
Let me weigh in here, as a police K-9 handler and trainer who now has a small dog obedience training business on the Delmarva peninnsula. Dogs are property and when they become dangerous they must be destroyed. Had it been my dog, I would have killed it immediately, it would have been dead before EMS arrived to take care of the little girl. I think the Police Officer new the consequences of his actions. He also knew of other ways to kill the dog with out condemning himself. Rat poison in hamburger meat works real well. I suspect that he wanted to make a statement, and i applaud him for that, he must however be prepaired for the fall out. He will most likely lose his AR15, possibly his job and if he is convicted he may never be able to legally own firearms again. I'm on his side and choose not to judge the man for doing what he thinks was the right thing to do. I, myself would have used the cover of darkness, and poisoned the offensive animal, and not told a soul. We are truly in the End Times when society worships the creation instead of the Creator.
God's grace
Arrell
 
I have to go with what George Hill said.
"If it was my dog and it mauled a child... I would have been the one to shoot it."

I would do the same thing.......and I think most of you know how much I love my dogs.

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"Lead, follow or get the HELL out of the way."
 
To many people treat their animals the same way they treat their children. We have all heard it, "Not my child(in this case dog) they would never do that." Instead of finding out what really happened and dealing with the situation as a rational adult.

The owner should have put the dog down immediately and at minumum offered to pay the medical expenses for the daughter.

I am dog person as well and had to put a dog down last year. She was a beautiful mixed Lab shepard. But she was a biter and sometimes she meant it. My wife and I worked with her a lot trying to get her to stop but she wouldn't. We could not take the chance that some neighborhood child would come into out yard and out dog would attack. It was a diificult decision bit one that had to made.

Life is made of difficult decisions that some people are unable or unwilling to make in their pursuit of an easy, responsibilty free life.
 
Wow, waiting 11 days, was a big mistake. I can see if an animal bit my child up i would have been furious and wanting to shoot this animal proably would have been the first thought going through my mind.

But in today's atmosphere of civil litagation, and people trying just about any reason to sue another, this was not a good idea. Far as the charges go, i could see this officer being found guilty of = discharging a weapon within 50 feet of roadway, but the other charge should be dismissed.

Sounds like to me the Animal control depatment dropped the ball, and red tape was the order of the day. The owner of this animal should have charges filed on him = for letting a dangerous animal running loose. Should also pay the medical bills incurred by the officers family.
 
This willingness of ardent dog-lovers to put down their dogs when they go bad is actually built into the breeds.

You would not have remotely "sane" dogs if people had not been making this decision for generations.

It's this practice that has defined the temperament of the domesticated dog vs. something like a wolf.


Makes me wonder though - would this work with humans, if the subversive elements could be identified and killed off would communism work without resistance?

Battler.
 
There was a similar case in Orange County, California several years ago. The father of a boy mauled by a dog went back to where the dog lived and beat it with a baseball bat. He split the dog's skull, and popped one of it's eyes out. The dog lived a few hours, then the owner had her vet put it to sleep. IIRC, this was a day or so after the dog attacked the boy, and the man was charged with animal cruelty. He was eventually acquitted.

I'm a dog person too, I had to put a dog down earlier this year that I'd had for nearly 13 years, and it broke my heart. But I can't blame the man for killing the dog that attacked his child. The dog's owner should have done that right away.
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Sheila Kuehl(D) is about as liberal as you can get, so I wouldn't be surprised if she sponsored that bill.

More "left coast" animal rights issues: Ballot iniatives have passed outlawing the sale of horse meat, prohibiting "claw-type" traps, and prohibiting mountain lion hunting. The latter has had devastating results on the mountain sheep population, and has increased mountain lion attacks on people and pets. I believe in animal rights to an extent, but NEVER over human rights.
 
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