The shooting deaths of an Uxbridge family's two dogs by a farmer exemplify the harsh facts of rural life, an animal welfare official says.And there's a perfectly good rationale for doing exactly that.
Under provincial law, a farmer has the right to kill a dog that's attacking his livestock or even just straying on property where his animals are kept, the chief inspector with the Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals said yesterday.
"I sympathize with the owner," Hugh Coghill said. "I'd be devastated if it happened to my dogs. But I've seen what two dogs will do to a flock of sheep overnight. It's horrifically graphic."And that's just part of the reason people out here are less than impressed with the fiberal's 2-billion dollar "Farmer Bob Rifle Registry."
The intention of the decades-old Livestock, Poultry and Honeybee Protection Act is to protect livestock from harm by stray dogs, Coghill said.
"They don't even have to be in the act of attacking. A dog can actually worry cattle, sheep or poultry to death."
Let's register criminals... instead of chasing down inanimate and useful tools.
Technorati Tags: Livestock, Poultry and Honeybee Protection Act, shoot, shovel and shutup, Farmer Bob Rifle Registry
