How can charges even be considered against this man???

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http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,300499,00.html

"We're investigating what will happen to the person who shot the lion," Churchill told the Daily Camera. "We do have laws that allow people to protect their safety and the their livestock. But this is the tricky gray area of it being a dog."

"People inside the home heard the attack on one of three dogs that were chained outside the house, went outside, and started yelling at the adult mountain lion. That's when the lion headed toward the armed man, who shot the cat."

Okay, my two issues with this story are:

1. I don't know how many people in here have had dogs, and I don't know how people value their dogs in Colorado, but every family dog we've ever had has been considered a family member. If anything attacked my dog, you'd better be damned sure that I'm going to defend it as though it were a brother.

2. Um... helLOOOooo? The lion headed toward the man instead of retreating, that's justification by my definition for a wild animal with such a documented history of increasing boldness toward and attacks on human beings.

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This was the same area around Nederland I was hiking in a few weeks back, while toting a 12-gauge shotgun and a .45LC revolver to guard against mountain lion attacks. While I knew then that it was perfectly kosher to kill wildlife in defense of yourself or a third person, I'm stunned that only livestock is explicitly covered by the exception and not other living property. Because this happened on a ranch, I'm sure the shooter and his family will be able to argue that a dog is a livestock animal; even then, it certainly sounds like he'll be able to argue that it was just as much of a threat to his whole family around the dog and would've attacked after it was done with his pet.

They made it sound on the local Denver news tonight that the forest service rangers dealing with the incident were looking for a way to not give him a ticket, but that if they did, it could top $1300. All this comes admidst a tree-hugger campaign to prevent the gray wolf hunt in the mountains this fall/winter... with this being the eleventh attack in the Nederland area this month, they should open up a cougar season as well.

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He obviously chained the dogs out there to bait the mountain lion.:shock:

If attacking a police dog is considered attacking an officer, then attacking my pet is attacking a family member.

And if the mountain lion headed toward the man, it's clearly self defense.

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Wow.. I cannot believe they want to charge him.

It anything or anyone attacked my dog... there would be hell to pay.

As with many households.... your dog is a member of the family.

If another animal was about to attack my dog.. that animal would be shot dead!!

If it was a person.. I would not shoot them but there would be a serious ass whoopin' in order.

In Virginia.... it is a felony to steal a mans dog. So harming adog MUST be a far worse crime.




§ 18.2-97. Larceny of certain animals and poultry.

Any person who shall be guilty of the larceny of a dog, horse, pony, mule, cow, steer, bull or calf shall be guilty of a Class 5 felony;

and any person who shall be guilty of the larceny of any poultry of the value of $5 dollars or more, but of the value of less than $200, or of a sheep, lamb, swine, or goat, of the value of less than $200, shall be guilty of a Class 6 felony.

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But if your dog was killing chickens (not even my birds) I have the right to kill it, go figure.
http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?000+cod+3.1-796.116

It shall be the duty of any animal control officer or other officer who may find a dog in the act of killing or injuring livestock or poultry to kill such dog forthwith whether such dog bears a tag or not. Any person finding a dog committing any of the depredations mentioned in this section shall have the right to kill such dog on sight as shall any owner of livestock or his agent finding a dog chasing livestock on land utilized by the livestock when the circumstances show that such chasing is harmful to the livestock. Any court shall have the power to order the animal control officer or other officer to kill any dog known to be a confirmed livestock or poultry killer, and any dog killing poultry for the third time shall be considered a confirmed poultry killer. The court, through its contempt powers, may compel the owner, custodian, or harborer of the dog to produce the dog.

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Well, I guess it depends on whether the dog is within the boundaries of their owners' property and whether they're the aggressor or aggressee.

Wonder if that applies to chickens. True story: when I was young, our neighbor illegally kept a rooster on his property within town limits. Two or three times, the thing came over into our yard and attacked our outdoor cat.

One day, the rooster had our cat cornered and was trying to flog and spur it, I went inside, grabbed my .177 pellet gun and shot the thing. It didn't die and I chased it out of the yard ready to use the pellet gun as a club if I had to. Three days later, the rooster died in its owner's front yard (lead poisioning from the pellet?). I was probably about 13 years old at the time. No issues were raised about it and my other neighbors were glad to hear that it died.

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But, what if your dog is attacking my chickens, while at the same time being attacked by Michael Vick, who is simultaneously being stalked by a mountain lion, and on my way outside to investigate I hear on the radio that bird flu is on the rise in my region, while noticing that my chickens are attacking my neighbor's cat. Who or what do I shoot?

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Michael Vick, twice.

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Tomahawk wrote:

But, what if your dog is attacking my chickens, while at the same time being attacked by Michael Vick, who is simultaneously being stalked by a mountain lion, and on my way outside to investigate I hear on the radio that bird flu is on the rise in my region, while noticing that my chickens are attacking my neighbor's cat. Who or what do I shoot?

Click to expand...

The snakehead fish riding the el nino wave?

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The Three "SSS"

Shoot

Shovel

Shutup

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Tomahawk wrote:

But, what if your dog is attacking my chickens, while at the same time being attacked by Michael Vick, who is simultaneously being stalked by a mountain lion, and on my way outside to investigate I hear on the radio that bird flu is on the rise in my region, while noticing that my chickens are attacking my neighbor's cat. Who or what do I shoot?

Click to expand...

Target rich environment. shoot what you can eat.:lol: