Purrs 4 Peace - Year Two - Month 1: Right of Life

We are purring for Purrs 4 Peace - Year Two - Month 1: Right of Life

We are purring for all those cats and dogs trapped in KILL SHELTERS.

Every 8 seconds an animal is euthanized in a Shelter in the United States….One LIFE is ended. It is estimated that 6-8 million are killed in the United States alone EACH YEAR.


If  you don't visit House of the Discarded give her a visit. She does rescue work at a kill shelter and her post are heartbreaking. And as our vet says DON'T SHOP ADOPT, from a shelter or rescue.

We also want to mention another troubling trend. POLICE THAT SHOOT INNOCENT PETS. Many times in front of the horrified families.

Bear-Bear ~ 3 year old Siberian Husky shoot at a dog park. You can sign a petition to bring his killer to justice here


Police kill family pet during search warrant, find nothing
According to resident Anna White, Tonka's owner, the police shot her pet while it was in a fenced area on her front porch. "We found the shell casing outside by the fence area. Tonka then ran into our house, got onto my bed and died."



—the shooting of dogs by police has become troublingly common across the country. My beat as a journalist includes police misconduct, and I've noticed an increase in media accounts of police officers shooting the family pet—with a notable lack of remorse or disciplinary consequences. This sad trend appears to be a side effect of the new SWAT, paramilitary focus in many police departments, which has supplanted the idea of being an “officer of the peace.”

The raid on Calvo's home was actually the second in 10 months in which police in Prince George's County burst into a private home during a drug raid, shot and killed the family dog, then realized they had raided the wrong house. But national statistics on police-involved pet shootings are difficult to come by. Randal Lockwood of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals recently told the Las Vegas Review-Journal he sees 250 to 300 incidents per year in media reports, and estimates another 1,000 aren't reported.

The raid on Mayor Calvo's home resulted in the death of his two dogs. More on the shooting of Mayor Calvo's two dogs

Police Shoot Family's Pet Dog During Mistaken Stop
The Tennessee Highway Patrol released video tape Thursday of the traffic stop where three Cookeville police cars pulled over James Smoak and his family as they drove home Jan. 1 from a vacation.
However, during the stop the family's bulldog-boxer mix dog named Patton jumped from the car and raced toward Cookeville police officer Eric Hall, who was holding a shotgun.The tape shows that Hall stepped back and fired just before Patton reached him.The dog appeared to be wagging its tail as it ran toward the officer, the tape shows.Police had suspected the family of a crime after getting a report of money flying from their car as it sped down Interstate 40. Investigators later discovered Smoak had left his wallet on the car while pumping gas and was innocent of any crime.

LaGrange, Missouri Police Shoot Dog
This dog was first chained to the trailer, wagging its tail. The only aggression shown by this dog was after it was re-chained up to a pickup truck for about 10 minutes. Yes, it panicked when the catch pole came out but that is to be expected. Most animals will panic when a catch pole is looped around their neck by a stranger. The dog was shot once then seemed like it was wagging his tail before it was shot the 2nd time in the head. 

I watched the video and it is sickening. THE DOG NEVER ONCE LOOKS AGGRESSIVE, THE DOGS ONLY CRIME TRYING TO GET AWAY FROM PEOPLE THAT WERE MISTREATING IT. It was chained the whole time and at one point was laying down, until the officer came up with the catch pole at which point it tried to get away. The officer got the catch pole around it's neck and tried to get away and the officer shoot it. THE DOG NEVER TRIED TO ATTACK EITHER OFFICER AND THE DOG HAD A GUN HELD ON IT THE WHOLE TIME, EVEN WHEN IT WAS LAYING DOWN. Honestly it looks as if they intended to shoot it from the beginning as they kept looking around (possibly to see if there were any witnesses). And I can only wonder if they used the catch pole to keep the dog still while they MURDERED it.

Owners protest police shooting of dog
Jason Darke said that he was awakened by his dog, Flash, about 6 a.m. Thinking that the pit bull needed to relieve herself, he said that he turned the dog loose in the fenced-in yard of the family home on Bakewell Street, located just a few blocks away from the shopping mall.
According to Darke, he watched from the doorway as the dog started barking and ran toward the ‘intruders’—whom he claims did not identify themselves as police officers—but stayed well away from them. Darke said that he was only about 5 feet away from the dog and that the dog was “at least 30 feet” from the officer when the officer fired his weapon.
 
Family questions SWAT drug search that led to dog’s death

Dog Gone Shame: Woman Says Cop Shot Her Beloved Pet for No Reason
Billie Alvarez was on her back patio eating breakfast the morning of Friday, April 16, when a man dressed in all black jumped out from behind a tree. Her dog, Jade, a two-year-old terrier mix, woke up from a nap and sauntered over to the man. "Her tail was wagging and she was smiling at him," recounts Alvarez, who says the man soon identified himself as a cop with the north St. Louis County suburb of Bellefontaine Neighbors. He said he was investigating a report of a vicious dog on the loose.   "I tried to tell him that Jade had never bit a soul and that she wasn't violent, but he didn't give me a chance," says Alvarez. "He drew his gun, and said, 'I have to shoot her. I have to shoot her.'" 

Man says police wrongly shot medical aid dog 

A police officer trying to make an arrest at a Minneapolis home shot the neighbor's dog.
The dog's owners are angry and confused, but police officials say the officer acted responsibly.
William Knapp said his rottweiler/yellow lab mix Wilson was in his fenced yard, located in the 3200 block of Bryant Avenue N, Friday morning as police tried to arrest someone at at house next door.

There are more examples of police shooting innocent family pets but we do not have time to list them all. Sadly the list is extremely LONG.

We must enact laws that make it illegal for police to shoot dogs and cats (for those of you who question my inclusion of cats, considering the conduct of these police officers I wouldn't be surprised if they saw a cat as a threat and KILLED IT)  that are in their own homes or yards. For those of you who think that as long as you don't do anything wrong you and your pets don't have anything to worry about in many instances THE COPS WERE AT THE WRONG ADDRESS  or were acting on faulty information.

 Update (More links)
 Trigger-happy cops and dead dogs - when is it going to end?
In Eastern Tennessee an innocent man, his wife, and 17 year old son were pulled out of their car on the highway, forced to kneel, and were handcuffed in a case of mistaken identity.  They begged the officer to close the car door so that their dog wouldn't jump out.  The officer refused.  The dog did jump out of the car, and a video of the incident showed the medium-sized brown dog wagging his tail in a playful manner.  The officer shot the dog dead.

In a Cleveland suburb, an officer chased a child who was throwing water balloons at cars through a yard.  A dog who was on a chain lunged at him and he fired at and shot the dog.  This bears repeating... a dog who was ON A CHAIN, not loose, lunged at him.  The shooting was ruled as justified.

A lab mix in Milwaukee who romped with neighborhood children and visited a nursing home was shot in the legs when he jumped a fence and ran towards an officer.  The injured dog hid under some bushes, and the owner begged the cop to allow her to help the dog.  She was refused, and then the prone dog was shot twice more and killed

8 comments:

Jans Funny Farm said...

We are aware of too many instances of such conduct. We can only assume the wording has been changed from "sworn to uphold the law and protect us" to include "and take our aggressions and fears out by shooting family pets." I can remember the terror of being home alone one night with the drapes still open, when I saw a group of police officers rush right in front of the window and pound on my door screaming, "police, open up!" And before my knees could buckle, a lower voice said, "We've got the wrong apt." And they were gone. But what if they'd rammed my door, burst in and shot my dog? This has got to stop! They have got to be accountable for shooting pets.

Jan

AFSS said...

Thank God they realized they were at the wrong apartment before something awful happened.

We have read in many instances where the police didn't even knock or identify themselves just broke into someones home. How horrifying!!!!!

Cory said...

We will purr for peace and for change.

Brian's Home Blog said...

Purring for a big change!!!

Katnip Lounge said...

We are purring for change.

~ Lounge Kats

Information can be a powerful thing. And us Humans have a responsibility to be animals Voice.

{{hugs}}

MomKat Trish

The Island Cats said...

We hope and purray for change!!

Frankie Furter and Ernie said...

We certainly DO need to change some things.

♥I am Holly♥ said...

We hope and pray, purr and bark for change to happen.