Courtesy of CBS Sacramento:
The penal code has been on the books for decades. Some officers say it’s the most humane thing you can do, while others call it barbaric.
Officers use deadly force to save the lives of others, but what about shooting severely injured dogs or cats found on the street?
According to a California penal code, it’s an officer’s discretion, saying in part:
“…any officer… may, with the approval of his or her immediate superior, humanely destroy any abandoned animal in the field in any case where the animal is too severely injured to move or where a veterinarian is not available and it would be more humane to dispose of the animal.”
“No one wants to see an animal lose its life, but if death is inevitable, and it’s just being prolonged,” said Sacramento County Sgt. Jason Ramos.
That is one thing, and I think we can all see where that might be the best choice. However...
.....Merced Bee reports Merced Police take injured animals to the range and kill them there.
“That sounds so archaic to me,” said veterinarian Dr. Jyl Rubin. “What a crazy way of thinking, especially with all these rescue organizations.”
She believes law enforcement agencies that still shoot injured animals should consider creating an alliance with rescue groups.
“All those organizations need to really come together. There needs to be something finite that way if an animal is injured you don’t take it out on a range and shoot it.”
You know I once responded to a moose hit on the highway. In that case the animal's legs had been shattered and there was NO hope of its survival. The responding officer DID shoot it with his revolver twice to put it out of its misery, but that is substantially different then loading up somebody's bleeding pet and taking them out to the gun range to use as target practice.
There is NOTHING humane about that.
Anybody who has seen an animal, or person, that has been shot, realizes that it is NOT necessarily a humane way to die. Bullets rip through flesh, and if they do not hit a vital organ the suffering and bleeding will only be increased.
Not only that but try to imagine how a house pet might feel. Laying on the road suffering immensely only to be picked up by a trusted human and carried away. I am sure that they imagine they will be taken care of by the creatures they have come to trust and rely on.
Instead they are taken out into a field and tossed on the ground only to have their "saviors" riddle them with bullets? That does not fall under the heading of "humane" in my book.
I don't know about the rest of you, but I hate everything about this story.
So the next time an officer is shot in the line of duty there, are they going to bring him to the range and put him out of his misery too? This is absolutely disgusting. They should be ashamed!
ReplyDeleteI would have no tespect for any officer who participates in this cruel treatment. Poor animal has suffered, then a trigger happy person comes along and adds to their misery. Remember, George Zimmerman wanted to be a police officer, and he loves his guns. He would relish being on that particular assignment.
ReplyDeleteAnd some wonder re: the increase in violent and even deadly police actions towards innocent bystanders, the elderly, the infirmed... Such a callous disregard for life is beyond reprehension. Those in CA and especially near Sacramento need to stop this, pronto.
ReplyDeleteTorturing pets in this manner can only lead to more death inflicted on the very people they are sworn to defend and protect.
OK, maybe I need new glasses or something, because I don't see anywhere in the text of the article you quote from CBS Sacramento where it says the police use the animals for target practice. It says they take them to the range and shoot them. Nothing about multiple times.
ReplyDeletePerhaps they remove them from the city or suburban street to a safer place to kill them, a place away from young children who might be watching and traumatized by the incident, or away from people who might be hit by a bullet that ricochets off the pavement after passing though the animal's body, a bullet that could injure another person.
At least one can hope that's what the article is really talking about. Please correct me if I am wrong.
CathleenD
I also had a problem with how this article was presented. When information is twisted and slanted credibility suffers no matter how noble the cause. Further I believe that giving animals human emotions and behaviors is incorrect.
DeleteSurely you cannot be so naive as to believe that every animal taken to the shooting range is killed with the first bullet. Right?
DeleteBesides if you are going to take the time to drive the animals all the way to the range why not take them to the vet to give it a shot that would end its life peacefully?
There simply needs to be a better, more humane, answer to this.
Not only is Gryphen right about taking injured animals that CAN be moved to the vet for humane euthanasia, but aren't the cops who shoot animals at their shooting range violating this?
Delete"…any officer… may, with the approval of his or her immediate superior, humanely destroy any abandoned animal in the field in any case where the animal is too severely injured to move..."
You really think animals don't feel and show love, pain, and fear, just as humans do, 8:42? You're a fucking psychopath.
DeleteAnon at 8:42 am. I have the feeling that you have never shared your life with a cat or dog. They most certainly do express emotions and have personalities. I have always been impressed at the intelligence of animals. It's different from ours but it is no less significant. Our beagles knew the world in many amazing ways, ways that we can only guess at, and they understood much about our world too. On her last afternoon, our beagle spent a few hours basking in the late summer sun and sniffing the air around her. How she loved all of those scents: birds, squirrels, chipmunks and more. We feel that we were privileged to share our lives with her. Many of the animals used for police "target practice" probably had families that loved them too.
DeleteBeaglemom
Cathleen D,
DeleteEver seen a police range in the middle of the city? Didn't think so. In most circumstances, it is faster to take the animal to a vet. If an animal has to be put down on the spot, such as a trailering accident with horses and broken legs etc., rest assured that the police clear the area first. Yeah, I've seen it.
8:42
DeleteYou seem to be a person devoid of emotion yourself. Isn't that the definition of a sociopath? I'm sure, however, you consider yourself "enlightened."
I saw this come up yesterday and someone said, if you could take them to the "shooting range" then you could surely transport them to a Vets office! Also most cities in Cali have humane societies which are supposed to be called and THEY will get them Veterinary help.
DeleteMerced might be one of those cowpoke town where they are talking about a injured cow or horse....
Anyway its horrible and I have actually seen the police shoot a dog in cold blood, and talked with the IAD and told them just what I thought (the dog was not vicious and why didn't they call the spca or let the cop who used to be a spca and had a catch pole catch the dog?)
The next day I went back again to complain and
was told by a deskbitch that yes if my dog was wandering and "perceived as a threat" he would be shot too!
This is the fucking police state we live in NOW! Don't let your precious pets off leash or run loose. It may end up as a target for some fucking cop!
Anonymous8:42 AM
DeleteI also had a problem with how this article was presented. When information is twisted and slanted credibility suffers no matter how noble the cause. Further I believe that giving animals human emotions and behaviors is incorrect.
*****
I have a "problem" with people like YOU! Sociopath I believe its called? No empathy for life? You do sound like a Palin! I hope your in intensive Therapy for your Issues....
A someone who has worked with animals YES they do have feelings and FEEL PAIN and can LOVE and have compassion unlike Sociopaths!
And fuck off also!
Humane? I call it SICK.
ReplyDeleteEnglish Translation of MERCED
ReplyDelete1 merced: favor
2 merced a: thanks to, due to
3 a merced de: at the mercy of
What a travesty! Using live, though injured animals, for target practice should be expressly forbidden. I am sure that there are times when a policeman has to put down an animal that has been run over by a car or truck and is barely clinging to life. I would assume that, if the animal has a chance for survival, the police would notify the local humane society to come and get the animal for treatment or would take the animal to the shelter or to the nearest ver's office. That's acceptable behavior. But taking an injured animal to the practice range and then using it for a target is simply disgusting. The gun culture in this country has simply run amok and I blame the NRA and the GOP for the problem.
ReplyDeleteBeaglemom
sick bastards, who does that kind of thing.... take it to the vet and have it put to sleep if it can't be healed..... disgusting
ReplyDeleteWhat a disturbing report. We saw a dying deer who had just been hit by a car and it was awful. I know our police all wild animals out of their misery as soon as possible.
ReplyDeleteThere's no reason these guys need injured animals to be used as target practice. Who are these people?
I cannot believe that ALL police men and women do this!! I'm in my 70's and recall my Dad putting 'down' our elderly dog which was horribly sad for all of us. I've also seen cops, where I live, have to shoot moose due to being hit on the highways. The moose meat is normally provided to the poor.
ReplyDeleteWould the cops that do this in California be the same kind that beat up folks when they arrest them or liked killing animals as kids? Can't help but make me wonder. My thought is that if they are taking the animal to a field to shoot it, they could take it to a vet office.
To Cathleen D.... NO, shooting them at the spot they lie injured immediately to put them out of their misery might be defensible in some dire situations where help could not be rendered. Transporting a badly injured animal with no intervention or pain relief offered to a location where they writhe in pain waiting for those arriving to deliver the fatal shots, is NOTHING BUT ABSOLUTE CRUELTY.... I have to wonder about someone like yourself defending such practice. I can only hope you have access to no animals, yourself if that is your attitude.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous9:15 AM
DeleteHow is shooting them with a 357 mag with hollow points "humane"?
You're cracked.
Much better call SPCA or take the animal to one of the many emergency Vet hospitals.
Unless they are talking about LARGE animals like a deer or a cow or horse, which shooting in the head is STILL inhumane, but for a large animal that could injure itself or others while panicking and in pain & fear, I still don't see anything "humane" it looks to me like Target practice!
Bastards!
I know someone said they used to do that in the "the old days" and maybe they did but this is 2013!
No reason not to get a animal like a dog or cat to a 24 Emergency Vet clinic.
The police are hardly in a position to judge what is and is not an animal so badly injured it cannot be saved. Moose, deer or horse? Maybe. Dog or cat, hardly.
DeleteThe Merced police are getting their rocks off using these animals for target practice. And that will lead to animals that aren't badly injured at all being let loose on the range to run around, then limp around and finally collapse, riddled with bullets while the officers laugh and take bets on how long Lassie or Garfield will last.
There is NO excuse for not taking a domestic animal to a vet. Even small wild animals such as opossums and racoons should be transported.
Anonymous at 5:46 PM replying to Anoymous 9:15 has taken that comment totally out of context and is totally misconstruing. That comment was clearly in response to Catherine D (which apparently was not read)... Not defending shooting at all, but if the context had been read countering Catherine D's argument. To post an ugly retort like that without having read the comment which it clearly was intended as reply is irresponsible.
DeleteThat said, Gryphen really needs to revamp the comments format, as this occurs all too often.
Disgusting! What is wrong with these monsters that they have the mentality of Ted Nugent. Sick sons of bitches. I hope there is a hue and cry over this and it is stopped.
ReplyDeleteAt 8:42, you are a total idiot with zero understanding and compassion, you must be a Palin.
ReplyDeleteDid you address the wrong person? 8:42 said to take it to a vet and have it put down humanely. I don't see the Palins doing that. Was there another 8:42 that has since been deleted?
DeleteThere's another 8:42 AM waaaaaay up the top of the comments who I think 9:37 meant to address.
DeleteThey wrote:
Anonymous8:42 AM
"I also had a problem with how this article was presented. When information is twisted and slanted credibility suffers no matter how noble the cause. Further I believe that giving animals human emotions and behaviors is incorrect."
The same thing's happened to me in the past.
The difference in an on-the-siteshooting is that to be as humane as possible, the shooting is done in a manner that the animal is not made aware of the act. Nobody likes to do it, but when the animal is seriously injured on the highway, as an example, it is the only merciful solution that can put the animal out of its misery. Putting it on the range and firing at it, even if it isn't conducted as target practice shows no level of mercy.
ReplyDeleteTo 8:42, the animal, although not human, is definitely capable of feeling fear and terror, and it put it on the range with a gun pointed at it and shots being fired at it is certainly cruel.
I used to live in CA and remember the story of a motorist who was jailed for throwing another motorist's dog onto the freeway where it was run over, because the dogs owner cut him off in traffic. Aren't there laws in CA that would permit the animals to be put down with medicine? After all, criminals who are given the death penalty are given a "lethal injection" when they are executed. Maybe they should take death row inmates out to the shooting range and use them for target practice instead of the animals and save the state some real money.
ReplyDeleteIf you think those officers aren't getting their rocks off target shooting at those animals, you're sadly mistaken. This is not only sick, it's damn scary to think of a city full of these officers.
ReplyDeleteA society enamored with blood lust
ReplyDeletedeserves the spawn of that lust.
Cops (police organizations, generally),
have become nothing more than local
government mercenaries, i.e. jackbooted thugs.
Jonathan Sands12:46 PM
DeleteEXACTLY!!!
Police, of all people, should know better. Where I live, if a K9 officer is killed in the line of duty, the perp is treated as a cop killer.
ReplyDeleteI wonder how many vets, animal hospitals, and shelters they pass on the way to the shooting range? I'm appalled that this law even exists, all animals, especially domesticated ones, communicate, are part of families, capable of displaying emotions.
I understand the need for humane killing, and the shooting range is at the opposite end of humane.
A cop is not a vet.
ReplyDeleteHow can he possibly determine the extent of an injured animal's injuries ?
This is sickening.
In Missouri recently, some dirtbag took a cat in a carrier and drowned it in a local lake . Some horrified people tried to stop him.
Guess what?
In Missouri-the owner of a pet can kill his pet anyway he wants.
Drowning, shooting, hanging , slashing his throat-all perfectly legal.
http://www.kshb.com/dpp/news/region_missouri/platte_county/no-charges-against-man-who-drowned-cat-in-lake
Tomorrow, Rush Limbaugh will be guffawing and applauding Merced and his home state of Missouri.
No wonder they put his bust in the Missouri State Capitol.
He has a long history of defending and laughing about animal cruelty.
I wouldn't put it past Palin to use the image of the Merced cops happily abusing the injured dogs for fundraising.
The far right is full of proud animal abusers -the same crowd that applauds animal cruelty goes berserk
if someone harms a single cell in a womb.
If that is what they are doing they are in violation of the l law. The law clearly states the animal be humanely put down in situ. If they can move it to a range for target practice, they can transport it to a vet's office. There it can be treated, put down, released to a rescue group, etc.
ReplyDeleteThe problem with this is that officers are no judge of when an animal must be put down. And since they are getting their jollies taking them to the range, there is a huge capacity for these self same officers to start to take animals that aren't in distress, are in no eminent threat of death, etc. to the range to shoot just for fun.
I sincerely hope that many rescue groups in the area band together, go to court and put a stop to the Merced police department's target practice. No judge would rule that is humane and the police can't defend their actions.
What happens to the bodies? How do the police explain to pet owners how their pet who only had a broken leg from being hit by a car is now riddled with bullets?
No. I don't think the police are going to be doing this any more now that their dirty little secret has been made public.
I don't see anything about "target practice" in the original story. There is nothing to suggest that anyone is doing this for fun. You seem to assume that "shooting range" means target practice or sport. Perhaps the point of taking them to the shooting range is to have a safe environment in which to discharge their firearm, as opposed to someone's front yard.
ReplyDeleteOr maybe you'd prefer that any wounded animal, no matter how badly crushed, be kept alive to suffer while police search for it's owner?
Maybe you've never had a beloved pet get hit by a car. I have. Sometimes it's painfully obvious that there's nothing left to do but put him out of his misery. You don't have a be a medical expert to see this sometimes. More than once I have wished I owned a gun, there's nothing so frustrating as watching your beloved cat writhe in agony while you try to figure out a way to end it for him. Finding an available vet at a moment's notice isn't always easy, and it's just one more ordeal for the animal.
This is one of those emotionally charged topics about potential situations that are full of shades of gray. What bothers me most about your interpretation of this story is the implicit assumption that all police officers are sadists. I do not get that from the story, not one bit. No doubt some are, but certainly not most. Laws can't possibly cover every possible contingency, but this one actually seems reasonable to me. If my cat is run over while I'm at work, lying in the road with a crushed pelvis, I would thank the officer who took the time to quickly and humanely put him out of his misery. I don't consider a bullet to the head to be inhumane in this circumstance, certainly no worse than waiting (possibly hours) for an available vet.
As for taking them to the shooting range, well if they shot them in the street some reporter (Grpyhen?) would write a story about how the cop traumatized the poor children in the neighborhood but shooting their pet in front of them.
I'm an animal lover and a liberal, and I find your interpretation of this article to be absolutely ludicrous and just plain offensive. This is the kind of work Sean Hannity would be proud of.
Duh Couldn't they just take them to a veterinary hospital then? How does packing up a wounded animal and transporting it to God knows where to then shoot it seem more humane to you? Sorry I don't get your points at all. If they can bring it to the firing range; they can bring it to a Vets! Most veterinary hospitals are open 24 hours a day!
Delete