By Olivia Demarinis
Animal advocates are raising awareness about
the high rates of law enforcement officers who shoot pet dogs while answering
calls on duty.
Several pet owners are suing police
departments and state legislatures for their mistreatment of their animals.
While there is no official data on how often
these killings occur in the U.S., media reports suggest that at least a few
dozen pets are killed each year, but many activists suspect more go unreported.
Outcry against these senseless killings say that it is an abuse of power by the
police and officials should be better trained to deal with pets in the line of
duty.
An argument citing a violation of the Fourth
Amendment was upheld when a San Jose chapter of the Hells Angels sued the
police department and city in 2005 for killing members' dogs during a gang raid
in 1998. In federal appeals, a judge found that "the Fourth Amendment
forbids the killing of a person's dog ... when that destruction is
unnecessary." The Hells Angels won $1.8 million in damages.
Animal-rights activists are concurrently
lobbying for increased pet training for police officers. Illinois and Colorado
have already implemented some measures to reduce dog shootings, other states
are currently considering such legislation.
In 2011, the Department of Justice published
a report on police incidents involving dogs along with advice on how to avoid
killing the animals.
"It's much more likely that a cop is
going to encounter a dog than a terrorist, yet there's no training," Ledy
Van Kavage, an attorney for the advocacy group Best Friends Animal Society,
said. "If you have a fear or hatred of dogs, then you shouldn't be a
police officer, just like if you have a hatred of different social
groups."
