greytpets, on 17 March 2012 - 08:47 AM, said:
Dog owner I'm so sorry for your loss, my heart goes out to you.
I also own 2 little terriers who would act the same way if they ever got the oppitunity, luckily to date they haven't. What I do know is that they can't open gates & they can't get through secure fences. If these chooks had been in a secure yard this wouldn't have happened. Surely it is your responsibility if you own ANY animals to keep them as safe as you possibly can? Too often I see animals kept in very insecure yards whose owners are the first to scream out when something happens.
This is a very unfair blame shift particularly when the benefits of free ranging poultry are so well known. I free range some of my poultry but not others (dependant on age, size, breeding program, time of year etc). Certainly there are risks in free ranging. I take precautions as I see fit to protect those birds given known predators. I can not mitigate against occasional 'wild card' intruders without also compromising what I consider to be the welfare of my birds who get great benefit in health and quality of life from free ranging on specific areas of my property. To put the blame on the owner of the poultry for someone elses dog coming onto their property and killing their stock is to blame the victim for the crime because 'they asked for it'.
millbrooksprings, on 17 March 2012 - 09:49 AM, said:
I absolutely feel for the dog owner , I believe the farmer was within his rights to shoot the dogs but the correct protocol should have been followed. Dogs menacing on his property - dogs shot - bodies left where they lie - council contacted for removal/identification. This is a case where the farmer went too far in his actions after the fact, maybe he was tired of irresponsible owners allowing their dogs to roam and menacing his animals and these two were the final straw. No owner needs to find their animals the way this one did but never minimise the species that was injured/killed. To this day my son still cries when he thinks of his pet rabbit and chickens killed by neighbours dogs
Property owners are well within their rights to have any animal they are legally allowed to own contained on their own property, it is up to other animal owners to keep their animals off of other properties end of story
I too feel for the dog owner and agree with millbrook springs that while I consider the farmer well within their rights to shoot the dogs, the correct protocol should have been followed. I do understand the frustrations of the farmer though. Having other peoples animals roam on your property and compromise the welfare of your own animals is also a very stressful, frustrating and heartbreaking thing. The loss of ANY animal is not a positive experience, and to have them die a violent and early death is even less pleasant.
As for them being 'just chooks' - as someone who breeds purebred poultry as well as dogs I can tell you that to many many people they are way more than 'just chooks'. If a dog killed some of my birds - who are the product of many hours of planning, multiple generations of careful breeding and selection, sourcing hard to get stock, rearing, observing, handling and yes, even getting to know individual personalities and some that are simply 'more special' - then I would be very very angry and very very upset. In general though - regardless of their supposed 'worth' - no animal should be considered 'just an animal' as a way of lessening the meaning of its existence or the manner of its death.
This post has been edited by espinay2: 18 March 2012 - 11:34 AM