kittenmmm's blog post - If I Had A Pistol

Some of what I write today might offend some of you but then again, maybe it might just make some of you see another side of things too.

I own a farm...I have livestock. That livestock provides food and income for me.

Now, this morning, the mystery of the coyote my son thought he saw in the barn appears to have been solved. My LGD was barking her fool head off and the guineas were screeching up a storm. I looked out but didn't see anything anywhere. I started to get ready to take a shower but they didn't let up so I decided to take another look. All of a sudden a dog popped out of my coverall and then darted back in. Whoa.

I pulled on a zippered sweatshirt and went out there in my slippers...yep, in the snow in my slippers. My other dog ran out with me. He's no help by the way..all he wants to do is play. I look around the corner of the coverall and there she is....eating one of my guinea fowl chicks.

I grabbed an axe in case she was feral and decided to try to eat me. And here comes happy dog wanting to play. Actually that worked out ok because it distracted her enough so I could grab her collar...yes a collar. She had a regular nylon collar and a choke collar on. The nylon collar looked fairly new. No tags of course. I managed to grab her choke collar and started pulling her out of the coverall.

It was pretty obvious she wasn't going to bite me, thankfully, because without tags I would've had to go through shots for rabies and those are NOT fun. I put the axe down and thought about going to get a gun but I only have my shotgun and that would've made a damn mess that I didn't want to have to clean up. So, I pulled her over to the side of one of my barns and locked her in. Then I proceeded to call animal control.

Animal control was really responsive and was out to get her in about 20 minutes. I told her she wouldn't have any problem with the dog as it was fine with humans. She looked thin but had obviously been someone's pet .. if not now at least recently. I looked at her and said "you know, she's lucky I didn't shoot her." To which she replied, "you have every right to."

Listen to what I just said....let that sink in if you own a dog and you let it run free. I have every right to shoot your dog if it comes on my property and destroys my livestock. And trust me, if I had had a pistol or a rifle, it would be gone. While I feel bad for the animal itself, I also need to ensure that my livestock is not decimated by someone's pet for fun or for food if it's not being cared for properly. And if you let your dog run free....you are not caring for it properly. My dogs are either in my yard or on chains. If I have to obey laws so does everyone else. The only thing that saved that dog today was the thought of cleaning up dog brain from the inside of the coverall, bad enough I had to pick up guinea guts.

I know we still have coyotes but at least they don't come to my house to pick up their food. They tend to stay their distance as long as Cassie is outside or lights are on. Dogs on the other hand have no fear of people and therefore can wreak a lot more damage. Do us all a favor and keep your pets under control.

ranting kitty