animal cops in houston

I am watching animal cops in houston right now and 2 of the big cases struck me, the first is a dog was shot (and eventually died) the guy admitted to shooting at 2 dogs while they rummaged through his trash, but didn't actually hit them. does anyone know the rules on that? I don't think people should have the right to shoot dogs whenever they want, but if dogs are runing loose on your property, what actions are you allowed to do? do you just continually call the "animalcops" until they do something to the owners (which the shot dog was intact, which means to me that if that dogs were free to roam and he is intact, that causes damage, he could possibly impregnate females and make more wild puppies)
but the other thing was this horse had a hole in the back of its neck, straight thru, like you could have stuck your arm thru it! it was crazy, i just wanted to know if anyone knew anything about that?

 

I found this site with the laws listed by state. In NY you can not shoot a dog or a cat unless the dog is a danger (I think if its trying to attack someone?) or the dog or cat are severely hurt and in pain.

http://tarlton.law.utexas.edu/dawson/cr ... ruelty.htm

I saw that episode too a while back. I could'nt believe the hole in that horses neck. :shock:

 

thank you! I wish I had apic of that hole, it was just unbelievable! I wanted to just stick my arm through it! What do you think could have caused it? I wondered if it was just a birth defect, bc it seemed healed over so well.

 

This topic reminded me of something I saw last night on 20 20. I didn't see the entire program but essentially that John Stossel was bashing the SPCA. Especially the Houston spca (I think - some place in texas). They were talking about how the spca exagerates claims in order to seize animals and then they sell them for a profit. For example, there was this one place they raided with 139 dogs and they seized them all b/c they said they were being mistreated. But 20 20 says that while they weren't living in the best of conditions, they weren't being abused. I don't know, it was just kind of weird b/c I have never really thought about the spca overreaching their power. They said that people who fight the seizures never win in court b/c who would believe the spca is doing this. They were mainly focusing on this texas guy. Did anyone see the entire thing? I just saw parts of it b/c I was watching law and order.

 

I saw it....and have a transcript of the segment http://abcnews.go.com/2020/story?id=817494&page=1
it basically centered around one particular guy in charge of an SPCA in Texas.

 

there was one episode where they took a bunch of ponies that looked fine to me anyway seized them and sold them in no time...alot of it does seem a little crooked to me

 

You can read their response to the 20/20 episode here:
http://www.spca.org/site/PageServer?pag ... ik1.app20a

 

So what is the truth? I have a person on our agility list that is insisting that these unjust seizures do take place. She says that animal rights groups fabricate stories all the time to raise money. I can see how this would be true. Some of them ARE too extreme and any organization that has people in it has the potential to be corrupt.

But this same person says shelters in New England are almost empty and some import dogs from overseas because there aren't enough to go around - or at least not enough of the "breeds people want." And this horrifies me!! Importing dogs when OUR shelters are overrun?! Who gives a flying crap what breed people WANT? Just go to the shelter and pick out a dog! There are millions dying every year because they can't find homes. It's not the time to be picky!

I guess she gets a lot of flack because people are always putting down breeders. I imagine the responsible ones do get tired of being blamed for stuff that they didn't do. But they are outnumbered so badly by the ones who are NOT responsible that are part of the problem.

And what if by stalling and being indecisive about whether or not someone is really mistreating their animals, we cause more pain and suffering? How can it be that hard to tell if people are mistreating them? Why can't there be laws about how many animals you can breed at any one place and time - wouldn't that solve a lot of the issues? If there were just a license to breed and rules that had to be followed - health testing that MUST be done, proper research into the lines of the dogs, limits on how many intact animals you can own and how often they can be bred and at what age. And a FEE to get the breeders' license, so only people who are serious and have the money for it can do it.

It seems so obvious. Maybe I am missing something. What do those of you who breed think about this?

 

when I got Luther (from a nearby county pound) the humane society told me that the warden (or whatever the pound guy is called) does that all the time and that is why I needed to get Luther and not let them give him to the other people. (for the whole story check out Luthers page on dogster http://www.dogster.com/?29226 ) I thought the hs lady was just crazy, but apparently this happens!

 

I have to say that that absolutely horrifies me to think of that. We work hand in hand with the Houston SPCA. I personally have volunteered there. I've never seen any such thing. BUT i'm not saying it COULDN"T happen.

I just took 4 of our rescues that were dumped to CAP in Katy. They will house them, and foster them out until they are adopted. I personally just can't keep on with all these dogs that are getting dumped. The only humane thing I can think of to do is take them where I know they wll get good care and find good homes.

My fosters are full... and its flat out rediculous the ammount of dogs that show up. So I have no other choice. Between CAP, PUPS, ASPCA, and alll the other indepedant rescues.

I can't even THINK that with all the dogs and animals that need homes, people would actually IMPORT and sieze animals that isn't needed....

 

Probably things are worse in rural areas like yours, don't you think, Sams? Between people dumping their dogs and stray dogs having puppies and not as many people as there are in cities or suburbs, you must have one heck of a problem going on.