And thankfully (not for the dog) it is all caught on video. This is why video should always be made public in these types of situations. They generally show dogs who are not dangerous enough to warrant such violent reaction from authorities. Video here and here. These are 5-10 minutes of a 68-minute long video. The longer video includes footage of police chaining the dog to a mobile home as well.
On March 31st, a mixed breed dog got loose.
A woman calls police after she claims the dog growls at her daughter. The dog is so dangerous that the same woman who called police leashes the dog and chains her to a mobile home. Talk about fearing for her life!
La Grange, Missouri police arrive in all their glory. Two full grown men with guns drawn are ready to take on this stoic, non-aggressive dog. The dog is so incredibly frightening that she is easily rechained to the truck.
When the first attempt to loop a catch pole over the dog's head fails, officers back off.
You see once again how violent this dog is - she sits down, and then in a final act of pre-mauling behavior, she lies down. A few minutes pass and the officers try to catch pole the dog again.
The dog is scared. She rears up and nips briefly at the catch pole. The officer shows how inept he is at dragging a dog over to a confined area by letting the dog run around him in circles. La Grange doesn't have an animal control department, and no one appears to have taught the police how to use a catch pole or what to do with a dog once caught.
Because instead of loading the dog up into a crate or the back of a confined truck, the officer drags the dog over to a grassy area, pauses while the dog just stands there, and shoots her in the chest.
The dog drops down. In a last-ditch effort to appease the officer, she wags her tail. For several seconds, she is down, wagging her tail, while the officer holds tightly onto the catch pole.
Finally, he shoots her in the head, killing her.
This is outrageous. The dog exhibited absolutely NO behavior that warranted two bullets. None. Nada. Zilch. According to officers, she was "violent"and "vicious" prior to the shooting. None of the video footage supports that. Growling and barking does not a vicious, violent dog make. Being able to leash and chain a dog up indicates a low-level threat.
Both officers had tasers. But instead of utilizing a less lethal weapon, they decided to mercilessly shoot down and kill a dog who, in her final seconds of life, wagged her tail at her killer.
There are a few petitions going around about this issue. This one has about 1,300 signatures. Feel free to sign it. Caveat: I think petitions are meaningful when they are from locals and accompanied by follow-up contact, but I have qualms about their efficacy as avenues of change.
Rest in peace, Cammie. You deserved a lot more - from your owner, from your breeder, and certainly from the La Grange police department.
The video is not gory. It is heart-wrenching and graphically tragic.
