In August, a Missouri household’s canine, Parker, wandered away from the household home throughout a violent storm. When the neighbor who discovered the canine known as the police for assist, as a substitute of returning Parker to his household, an officer shot him and threw his physique in a ditch.
According to a lawsuit filed this week by Parker’s homeowners, Tylla and Bryan Pennington, Stoddard County, Missouri, police officer Rodger Seal arrived at Hillary Mayberry’s home after she known as the sheriff’s workplace searching for help with Parker. Mayberry had posted earlier on Facebook concerning the discovered canine. However, as a substitute of serving to Mayberry discover Parker’s homeowners, and even taking her to a close-by shelter, Seal took the canine to a close-by wooded space and shot him.
The lawsuit claims that Parker didn’t instantly die after being shot. Instead, Seal waited eight minutes earlier than firing a second shot, which killed him. Seal then disposed of Parker’s physique by throwing it in a ditch.
The go well with argues that there was no authorized justification for Seal to kill Parker. While Stoddard County has a written coverage permitting officers to shoot a “harmful, diseased, or incapacitated animal,” Parker was completely wholesome and nonaggressive.
Instead, the grievance writes that Seal “dedicated the felony of Animal Abuse” when he shot the canine with out provocation and allowed him to put “struggling for 8 minutes after he was shot the primary time earlier than Defendant Seal shot Parker a second time killing him.”
“On info and perception,” the go well with provides, “Defendant Stoddard County has an unwritten coverage, sample, and apply of commonly killing dogs and disposing of them” in rural areas.
Unfortunately, this incident is much from the primary time {that a} police officer has killed an harmless household pet—it occurs so typically, there’s even a “puppycide” tag on Reason’s web site.
In November 2021, a Michigan cop shot a canine a number of occasions. Footage from the incident exhibits that the pup in query was not aggressive however was truly wagging his tail when he was shot. Last September, Detroit cops killed a girl’s canine and dumped its physique in a trash can. A 2016 Reason investigation confirmed that Detroit cops are significantly keen on killing dogs—they shot no less than 25 in 2015 alone.
Last August, an Arkansas cop tried to shoot a Pomeranian—a breed that tends to weigh solely 3 to 7 kilos—however missed and struck the canine’s proprietor. After the canine’s proprietor yelled out that she had been shot, the cop tried to inform her that her canine had truly scratched her as a substitute.
“[Police] do not have to be canine trainers,” Cynthia Bathurst, the manager director of the animal welfare group Safe Humane, advised Reason in 2016. “They simply have to know what to search for and defuse or management the state of affairs with the assets available. It’s the compassionate and proper factor to do. It’s higher for group relations. And if that does not transfer them, the large lawsuits ought to.”
