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I dislike depending upon prosecutorial discretion, but that is going to come into play when someone kills an animal.

If someone kills a large dog that attacks, no honest prosecutor is going to bring charges.

If someone kills a chihuahua because it bit their cowboy boot, and the dog owner wants to make an issue of it, it's quite possible.

BTW, I'm aware of one case being prosecuted under this law. A dog bit a child in Texas City recently. The dog's owner susequently hanged the dog from a tree until it died. She is being prosecuted for cruelty under this law.

It's legal to kill your own animal humanely, but not by torturing it.

- Jim

PC § 42.092. CRUELTY TO NONLIVESTOCK ANIMALS.
(b) A person commits an offense if the person intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly:
(2) without the owner's effective consent, kills, administers poison to, or causes serious bodily injury to an
animal;
(c) An offense under Subsection (b)(1), (2), (7), or (8) is a state jail felony,...

- Jim

All I'm trying to say is that you need to be sure that shooting the dog is the only way to stop an attack. The way the law is written now, you are better off defending yourself from an armed human criminal than an animal.

- Jim

dustyb wrote:As a "reasonable person" and potential juror, I think it would be much easier to prove a "defence of necessity" for shooting a pitt bull, than it would for say, a beagle. A lawyer would have a hard time finding 12 people who believe pitt bulls are not dangerous animals.

In the first place, if you get to the courtroom in a felony trial, your life is already messed up. You'll have spent upwards of $20,000 by that time.

I can see this prejudice (which I agree exists) working against the defendant. If a potential juror indicates that he will act on his prejudices rather than the facts and the law, he will not be chosen for the jury.

Circumstances are going to be very important in a case where someone kills a dog and the dog owner wants to press charges. If the dog has already bitten someone before being shot, the necessity should be obvious. At the other extreme, someone who shoots a dog from the porch with a rifle because it was on his property could be looking at legal trouble.

BTW, I really wish that when the legislature made it a felony to kill an animal, they had made the fact that the animal was attacking a person an affirmative defense. That needs to get fixed next session.

- Jim

Killing an animal that you do not own is a felony now, unless you can prove one of the exceptions or defenses to prosecution. Those would be that you had the permission of the owner (this is meant to apply mainly to vets and slaughterhouses), the dog is attacking livestock or poultry, or a defense of necessity, which is the hardest to prove.

- Jim

Do you think everyone should be fired for being less than perfect? No one would have a job in that case.

He used a word that is commonly heard on TV and is found in the Bible. He didn't cuss a blue streak.

- Jim

I agree that it's unprofessional. In an ideal world, everyone would have perfect manners.

But the woman's dog had just gone after the guy's young son. When he told her to confine the dog (which she is legally required to do), she ignored him. I don't blame him for losing his temper.

- Jim

Personally, I don't think someone should be fired for using language that is milder than that heard on the floor of the U.S. Senate.

- Jim

An animal control officer in Santa Fe, Texas, was walking his 5-year-old son to the school bus stop when a "pit bull" approached them aggressively. They retreated to the house. The dog attempted to get through the door and pushed in a window. The homeowner retrieved a Glock pistol and shot at the dog but didn't hit it.

The man then talked to the dog's owner, and the conversation became a bit heated.

Police issued a citation to the dog owner for letting the animal run loose. They did not cite the animal control officer.

The dog owner later complained to the animal control officer's employer, the Galveston County Health District.

Yesterday the man received a letter stating that he would be fired unless he appealed.

http://www.galvnews.com/story.lasso?ewc ... 2d7ad90d7e

"Shoot, shovel, and shut up," I say.

- Jim