This Week in Puppycide #32

Here’s a roundup of recent headlines involving police shootings of pets and other animals.

• Averted | Pueblo, CO (undated): Animal control officer finds Koda the pit bull being attacked by two loose dogs in her own yard, pushes the aggressive dogs away with her baton and drags Koda to safety. Koda suffers “massive injuries” but survives; the other dogs are captured by animal law enforcement. Funny how this female AC officer was able to handle two vicious dogs without resorting to lethal force when so many male colleagues cannot.
  (via Dogs Shot by Police | Facebook)

• Unjustified | Indian River County, FL (02/23/18): Officer responds to a call about a dog at large that had supposedly bitten a child (this is later revealed to be false), shoots a loose pit bull it approaches a woman who had just shooed it away. The dog is later euthanized. The owner, who had been searching for the dog after it escaped its yard, says it wasn’t aggressive; dashcam footage shows the dog trotting away and then towards the woman, tail wagging.
  (via Dogs Shot by Police | Facebook)

• Unjustified | Springfield, IL (03/04/18): Officer responding to a vicious dog call immediately shoots and kills the dog when it allegedly charges at him. The police chief considers the shooting justified, but the owner questions why the cop didn’t try his taser or billy club instead of killing the animal.
  (via Dogs Shot by Police | Facebook)

• Unclear | Hampton, VA (03/10/18): Officer responding to a dogs-at-large call is allegedly charged by two pit bulls, who leave when he retreats to his car. He then finds them attacking a dog in its backyard; they allegedly charge him again, whereupon he shoots and kills both. The injured dog’s owner says the shooting appeared justified, but another witness claims the two dogs were playful and nonaggressive. Animal Control was called but said they don’t respond on weekends; the killing might have been avoided otherwise.
  (via Dogs Shot by Police | Facebook)

• Unjustified | Indianapolis, IN (03/12/18): Police chaplain shoots and mortally wounds his neighbor’s pit bull after it jumps his fence and allegedly runs at him threateningly several times in his driveway. The dog was later put down. The chaplain claims the dog had been aggressive in the past, yet he didn’t think to prepare any nonlethal weaponry.
  (via Dogs Shot by Police | Facebook)

If you know of any similar stories I haven’t mentioned, you can leave them in the comments or send them in.

Not sure what those colored labels mean? See my puppycide ruling explainer.