Control your EFFING DOGS!

[oink]

No insult intended but I'm sure some will take exception but it seems that there is some conflict between city thought and rural country thought. I assure you that if an employee of one of the large BI ranches sees a stray dog in the pastures it gets shot. Stray and loose pet dogs will by instinct chase and kill cattle. Once they have done it once they can't be cured. Ranchers generally shoot the dogs immediately. Yes, I have assisted ranchers in doing this. In the instances I assisted with they had already killed calves, but why wait until then. I've seen Sheriff's Deputies assist too. Also, the larger Florida State Parks shoot loose dogs on sight. They have learned that the dogs chase and kill the deer. There is no attempt to capture them. Again, I'm not advocating the killing of all loose dogs but in rural environments that is the practical answer. It is not considered cruel. I don't like the poison idea except in possibly special circumstances when there is no other option. On the other hand, recently in a Fla city a man was charged with animal cruelty for shooting ducks (http://www.myfoxtampabay.com/myfox/pages...geId=3.2.1) at the request of the homeowners association. The ducks had over multiplied (muscoveys) and had become a pest. He pled out and was fined. He should have contested it as he would have won. It was obviously an area where the transplanted city folk had taken over the local authorities. In most rural areas he would have never been charged. I have on several occasions caught and tied loose dogs from the neighborhood that came onto my property. It was obvious that they were friendly, and they showed no aggression. They were later returned to their owners. Had they acted differently, so would I.

Pua`a
S. FL
Big Islander to be.