Farmer shot B.C. dog for mauling calf days before

OK so I'm not sure how I feel about a farmer shooting a dog attacking his livestock but hunting down 'a' dog two weeks later (are you sure it's the right dog), shooting in twice in the head and not having the guts or the sense to make sure it's dead doesn't sound right to me.

Pesonally I'd like to spend a minute or two with this jerk before leaving him lying on the side of the road.

"The fact that the dog was not in the process of attacking livestock and the fact that the dog was followed and then shot and left there to die is totally, totally inexcusable," Eileen Drever of the SPCA said.

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20060309/dog_folo_060309/20060309/

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Farmer shot B.C. dog for mauling calf days before

Updated Thu. Mar. 9 2006 11:48 PM ET

CTV.ca News

In a sad development to the story of Shadow, the B.C. wolf-Husky cross found suffering on Tuesday from a shot-gun blast to the head, CTV Vancouver has learned that the dog was shot twice by a neighbouring farmer.

Although Shadow will survive his injuries, he will probably never see again.

Dairy farmer Sig Birkholz defended his actions, claiming that Shadow mauled a calf two weeks ago on his farm in Mission, B.C.

"We have a right to protect our livestock, it's that simple," Birkholz told CTV.

Birkholz spotted Shadow a few days after the mauling occurred and tracked him down, with the help of a few other farmers. They chased Shadow to the side of a road and shot him twice in the head.

"Do we want it to wait for it to come back?" Birkholz said in his defence. "Or do we want to be preemptive about this?"

Shadow's owner, Corinne Super, found her pet lying in a pool of blood 20 feet from her home. Super took him to the vet but the decided to remove him, with the vet's permission, fearing the animal control officers would put him down.

Leaving Shadow at her husband's house to recover, Super left for a trip to Florida for six days.

"It was a difficult decision to go. It truly was, because of the stage he was at and what I was dealing with," Super said.

Missing his mistress, Shadow wandered off looking for her, but he was instead picked up by the local Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) and transported to Vancouver.

An X-ray revealed the full extent of the dog's injuries.

SPCA Veterinarian Dr. Dirk Van Der Walt told CTV Vancouver the dog's head and chest were riddled with literally hundreds of steel pellets.

"It's got probably a couple hundred pellets embedded in its skin, its skull, in its face," Van Der Walt told CTV Vancouver.

"It looks like pellets penetrated both its eyes, so unfortunately the poor dog appears to be blind."

While the police say the case is now closed, the SPCA is considering charges against the farmer.

"The fact that the dog was not in the process of attacking livestock and the fact that the dog was followed and then shot and left there to die is totally, totally inexcusable," Eileen Drever of the SPCA said.

However, under the B.C. Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, the SPCA. can only charge the animal's owner with an offence. In order to charge a non-owner, the Criminal Code must be used.

That's messed up that the SPCA only can charge animal owners..:confused:

As for the farmer... I really, really hope for his sake karma doesn't exist or it will come get him with a vengeance.

May his 2000 pound breeding bull mistake him for a cow...:evil:

Farmers do have a right to protect their livestock and shooting a stray dog they've found chasing cows isn't necessarily uncommon . . . . just unreported.

That's another reason that Abby and Keeper have a fence around their four acres to keep them in.

Before the fence, when Abby was less than a year old, she slipped away and I found her digging up gopher holes surrounded by 2000 lb. bulls in the farmers barnyard . . . . . comical on the surface but the farmer could have shot her or a bull could have stomped her.

Since then, we've generally "taught", somehow, Abby and Keeper to be somewhat afraid of cows when we're outside the fence.

Coyotes hang around herds at calving time as well. They're attracted by the after-birth rather than the calves themselves.

Rick C
www.goldentales.ca

What about the owners responsibility in all this?!
First she lets him roam free to get shot, then sends him to her husbands house to recover, while she goes off to Florida, then this poor blind dog is left to roam free AGAIN ("missing his mistress he wandered off") where he was picked up by the SPCA and transfered to Vancouver!!

I agree with "Shaykeija'S" punishment for the idiot farmer!!
He had other options, he could have contacted the owner and warned her, he could have taken the dog to the pound, but no, he chose to shot it in the face, and leave it suffering, and don't tell me he didn't know that poor animal was suffering, it must have been yelping in pain!!
Karma to the farmer:fingerscr

Hunters will also shoot rural dogs . . . . . as per this account from Abby on our website . . . .

http://www.goldentales.ca/whoshotsamgolden.htm

I'm pretty sure it was the hired hand next door. He had targets on haybales a few days before the shooting, then when he was quizzed by the dog owner, he said he didn't bow hunt. But then, a year later, he shot a deer with an arrow when it was trapped in a corral, claiming it had a broken leg from trying to get out.

Rural life can be cruel.

Rick C
www.goldentales.ca

That is awful yes the owner bears some responsibility but to shoot a dog in the head and leave it to suffer and die. I hope they charge him and the next time because I am sure there will be one the gun backfires in his face and he is by himself let the bugger suffer too

What about the owners responsability in all this?!

Exactly. I also understand the potential cost to the farmer and the issue with the owner.

The problem I really have is that if you shoot a dog twice and it isn't dead then shoot it a third time. Shooting a dog may be legal but leaving it to suffer is immoral.

I also hope they shot the right dog.

When we first moved into a farming community, we were told that if our dog wandered through onto the next property that the farmer had the right to shoot our dog. I can't say I blame a farmer for shooting a dog running cattle, sheep, horses, etc.. Just shoot it dead do not leave it to suffer. We were lucky, the neighbouring farmers all got to know her by us visiting with her and showing them that she was used to livestock, so if she cut across to the woods to get out to my mares, they'd let her be. But if she had been a chaser or livestock runner, then that would have been a different story.

I'm kinda against the owner here, I have a big beef with folks who let their dog(s) run wild all over the countryside. And the dog mauled a calf, which is a bit of a hit to the farmer's profit margin, which is already slim enough.

The only beef I have with the farmer is letting the dog suffer. And hoping he killed the right dog, and not a perfectly innocent one.

IME, talking to the owners would not have done anything. They might have kept an eye on it for a week, and then let it run off wherever it wanted to again. And then it would have attacked another calf.

Sorry to be biased (and I'll get flamed for this), but I have very rarely met (and canot think of one off the top of my head) a country-living dog owner that does not let their dog roam or even seems to care (or accept) that there is a problem when told so. The only exceptions are the ones with a hobby farm or who were raised on a farm, and understands the hassles of being a farmer.

I'm kinda against the owner here, I have a big beef with folks who let their dog(s) run wild all over the countryside. And the dog mauled a calf, which is a bit of a hit to the farmer's profit margin, which is already slim enough.



Yes, but under the law, can't the farmer sue for "triple damages" (3 times the price of the lost livestock animal) when someones dog kills their livestock? I think,hitting the owner in the pocket book, teaches them more then blowing their dogs head off!!
Yes the owner was irresponsible, but the farmer is an idiot! IMO

I have a friend that raises purebred black angus cattle not your feed mill type, anyways he had problems with the neigbours and their dog running his cattle. A few times he went and warned them, and told them he had the right to shoot the dog, they kept letting the dog run loose. Well one day we were there and yep here is the dog running the cattle again, so he goes in gets his rifle and shoots in the air. The people come running over to the fence, and quickly took in their dog and never let it run loose again. Not that he would have ever shot the dog, he is too kind hearted but it scared the owners enough.

I don't believe in shooting the dog but hell why use a shot gun, that is a hard way to die with all those pellet holes. He would has just gradually bled to death.

My neighbours Newf that was black and white got shot up north in hunting season, and this is why like I said in the other thread about farm animals Tucker is on leash. I also put bright orange bandanas on my dogs during hunting season. You don't see to many deer walking around the woods with them on.

I also put bright orange bandanas on my dogs during hunting season. You don't see to many deer walking around the woods with them on.
Just make sure no deer read this or they will start! :crazy:

I agree that part of the blame rests with the owner of the dog. We had our mal escape on us once and take off for a neighbours cattle. She wouldn't have hurt them and she just ran through...if you have had a mal I am sure you know how they will just run til they are tired and then stop and go'uhoh where am I now?"
Anyway, the farmer freaked to see this huge white wolf-like dog running toward the cattle, and lucky for us he was a softie and phoned instead of shooting. We were warned firmly that if it happened again...he wouldn't be so nice. As it was unintentional to begin with, we had no problem with it, but we had ongoing problems with a different neighbour that allowed her dog loose and would come pick fights with ours. in passing told the farmer, and the first time he saw the dog on his land, he locked it in the barn for 3 days...yes he fed it...til the owner was truely freaked and then returned it. that worked for less than a week! that dog was also eventually shot by a farmer, but at least no shot gun...
They do have to protect their livestock and it is the owners responsiblity to keep their dogs at home.
It breaks my heart that the poor dog had to pay for the neiglgence of his owner.