Cop Shoots At Attacking Dog In Local Park

[Diamondsmum]

http://www.citynews.ca/news/news_34931.aspx


A bizarre manhunt involving Toronto Police is underway in a local park. Except this one is more of a dog hunt.



It happened around 3pm when cops arrived at Sunnybrook Park in the Bayview and Eglinton area. An officer was in the area for separate reasons when he was suddenly attacked by a German Shepherd, who was roaming in the greenspace. The lawman tried repeatedly to avoid a confrontation with the animal, but when it came after him several times, the cop reportedly pulled out his weapon and fired several shots at the dog.

A blood trail at the scene shows the canine was hit, but before anyone could check on it, the dog scampered away and continues to be on the loose somewhere inside the area.

The officer was not seriously hurt in the incident and it's not known how badly the dog may have been wounded or why it attacked.

Animal Control was summoned to the scene to help in the search.

[Diamondsmum]

This is sad.. but an dog attacking anyone else..
The circumstances definately would of been different..

[Mat&Murph]

This is sad, I hope noone gets hurt and they find the dog soon. Would hate for him to suffer anymore

[Chris21711]

Here is a bit of an update, there was a pic of the poor dog in the Star on Saturday but I can't find it

http://www.nationalpost.com/news/can...tml?id=1645165

according to the owner the dog barked at the Police Officer......scary eh?

The SPCA & Animal Contreol carry Bite Sticks - Police carry Batons, SPCA & Animal Control - Animal Repellant - Police, Pepper Spray.........why do they have to be so trigger happy. Makes me think of the Ottawa incident a few weeks back....sigh

[Mat&Murph]

The dog followed him and showed his teeth??? No kidding after he got kicked!! I agree chris, why are they sooo triggerhappy

[BenMax]

Originally Posted by Mat&Murph

The dog followed him and showed his teeth??? No kidding after he got kicked!! I agree chris, why are they sooo triggerhappy

Thought the same darn thing!

[rainbow]

There was certainly no reason for this to happen. :sad:

We have trigger happy cops in B.C. too that shoot people for no reason too ....same thing goes for the out of control tasering that happens.

[Masha]

this was disgusting... i was reading an article about it and first it said 'the dog was attacking a woman' and then it continued where the woman said 'the dog was barking and baring the teeth at us so we left'.... thats not an attack.... thats a terrified dog.... the owner was shown on tv saying he will be pursuing legal action... good for him...

[BenMax]

Originally Posted by Masha

this was disgusting... i was reading an article about it and first it said 'the dog was attacking a woman' and then it continued where the woman said 'the dog was barking and baring the teeth at us so we left'.... thats not an attack.... thats a terrified dog.... the owner was shown on tv saying he will be pursuing legal action... good for him...

I say good for him - but against a cop........might be tricky. I sincerely wish him the best of luck in this pursuit. This has got to stop!

[lUvMyLaB<3]

Why do some people think that a dog growling and showing teeth is attacking? Could the cop not have used something that is not lethal? COME ON IT IS A DOG! They should NOT be allowed to pop their guns out whenever they feel like it, and SEVERAL times he shot at the dog? What after the first three times this viscous attacking dog still attacked you? He is not seriously injured... but the dog? grrrrr

[luckypenny]

Although I feel terribly sorry for the dog, what if he growled/bared teeeth at a child playing in the park? What if the child ran in fear and the dog has a high prey drive? Sorry, I think the owner should bear some, if not all, of the responsibility here for not having a secure yard and/or supervising his dog .

[Love4himies]

Well said, LP. I think the police officer has an obligation to the public safety and if he had no way to contain the dog until animal control could get there, he may not have had any choice. There is no way to predict what a dog may do, especially if you don't know the dog.

[lUvMyLaB<3]

Oh absolutley I think the owners bear a lot of responsibility FOR SURE! But it does happen in society, that dogs get loose.. and any dog is capable of running after a child, I just dont think the right thing to do is shoot now and ask later, Unless the dog is ACTUALLY attacking I don't think lethal force is warrented, there are other things they can use, and personally I would risk getting bit to try not to kill the dog, if the cop tried to get the dog he could use spray or something else, a rope, or his lunch anything until animal control came. If the dog was actually savagely attacking then maybe I understand. But that wasn't the case as I understand it.

There will always be dogs on the loose as sad as it is, and it is not fair to the dog that just because they are a large breed people think they pose a bigger danger so they are killed before they have actually done anything wrong, their lives are worth more than that. I do not agree with the PO's choice to shoot to kill the dog when it had not actually attacked, that is wrong and not fair. And it was directed at him as he was probably making the dog feal quite threatened, not at any public, that is different entirely.

Maybe PO's need to take a coarse, or have a mandatory time period to work as animal control so that they learn how to properly deal with dogs and these situations, the dogs deserve to have people working to spare their lives just as anyone else does. I don't know how it is in other cities, but here animal control is part of the police, not actually the officers that work as cops, but a division of the brandon city police, the animal control number is the police station number, and their cars say brandon city police ect....