http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5950304/
They can take my gun from me when they pry it from my cold, dead, paws…
This guy in Florida killed three puppies, but then another of his puppies, slated for execution, got his paw on the trigger and shot the guy in the wrist! 
(for the siblings) 
(for vigilante justice)
Charlton Heston wants that dog.
I for one welcome our new Armed Puppy Overlords.
I have a question about this story, why is shooting a puppy worthy of being charged with “felony animal cruelty”? If shooting is good enough for deer, moose, elk, etc. why isn’t good enough for puppies?
seriously, with all the stories you hear about mistreated dogs, or even tortured dogs, this guy was just putting his dogs down.
That happens, at the SPCA and also in rural areas.
Naturally, what should have happened was that he had the parents fixed in the first place, but it’s not uncommon to shoot working dogs that don’t work.
And, I don’t know about where he lives, but where I live, you don’t just show up at the SPCA and drop off 7 puppies. They can’t place the ones they have, and they might require a donation.
Because puppies are cuter.
Ex-cellent, Smithers!
With our new Puppy Stormtroopers to back up our Hamster Panzergrenadiers and Foo-Foo Kitty Strosstruppen, World Domination shall soon be ours!!!
BWA-HA-HA-HA-Haaaaa!
Good puppy! Here’s a treat and a tummy rub!
I think the difference between shooting puppies and shooting, say, deer is that a) puppies are cuter and b) puppies happen because of us. We domesticated dogs. If we are too damn lazy to get our dogs fixed (unless we WANT puppies) then we have effectively created a pile of puppies. Deer just happen. Shepherd-mix puppies don’t.
In a farm situation, I know these things happen. But I’d think a farmer could get their dogs fixed if they don’t want any more, really I do.
What is makes an instant death via point-blank brain trauma felony cruelty when blasting a 2 inch hole, from a distance, through a game animal that may or may not die quickly is not? It doesn’t matter whether we are responsible for the creature’s birth or not, since the puppies could have been put down by a vet via injection without facing charges. So what is the criteria? We are talking about a felony charge here, not a fine for being wasteful with cute puppy life.
If a dog don’t work, shoot it? They were three months old for Cripes sakes.
There are so many things wrong with this.
And how hard could he have tried to give them away? Not very hard really in three months.
And WTF? He was holding them in his arms to shoot them? That just sounds like he was having too much fun with what he was doing.
I can see putting a dog down if it is sick and dying or killing live stock, but these were puppies.
Smart-ass guess is that it’s the law. You get licenses to hunt for X number of deer, but none for puppy-shooting. This way you can’t legally kill stray (or mistaken for stray) animals for fun/because you don’t like them, either.
They probably also decided that for various reasons (like stupid gun-handlers getting themselves shot in the process) using a gun or similar means to control the pet population is unwise. There are laws regulating where you can kill game animals and the type of weapon, while pet killing would be more likely to happen in populated areas where you could accidentally shoot some bystander/their pet as well.
My other smart-ass comment is that most people don’t give a damn about “food animals” but their hearts bleed for cute-n-fuzzy pets. I’d be more critical about this, except that people are essentially trained from a young age to think of certain animals as food and thus not worth any consideration. (Caveat: This is an exception to my “I’m not a proselytizing vegetarian” stance, in that I’m explaining this dichotomy in behavior.)
He could have at least TRIED a shelter. Or a vet – maybe a vet’s office might have known somebody who could have taken the puppies. And if putting them down truly was the only option…there just seems to me to be something barbaric about shooting puppies, unless there truly is no other way. I doubt that, in this case, it was.
I’m on the puppy’s side. Way to go!
Well, first, we don’t know, from the article, where this guy was shooting the puppies at - which I think may be a factor. I’d also like to second Ferret Herder’s comments, it’s likely the law.
Of course, I’m inclined to think that this guy has been punished enough, unless he was doing something like gut-shooting the puppies. The information I’d want to know before making a judgement would include: What fee is there for dropping off puppies at the local shelter; had he tried any other way to get rid of the puppies; and why hadn’t he had his dog spayed?
That’s good you are on the puppy’s side. I don’t hunt, I have put animals down in the past and hated it.
If that guy was charged with a weapons felony for discharging a firearm in a place where it wasn’t allowed, I would have no problem with that. I just wonder how this is an animal cruelty felony, is all. I may have to head over to the GD thread on this topic.
I guess if shooting an animal is considered animal cruelty under the law, there’s your answer. Why it is is a whole different argument, which I’m not prepared to argue. I’ll go lurk in the GD thread but I don’t post there; posting there hasn’t worked out well for me in the past.
I won’t debate shooting healthy puppies, that’s just plain wrong. That said I have had to put down dogs and and held them as I did it. I can’t speak for that nimrod but let me assure you I didn’t have any fun in the process. I felt it was better that the animal was comfortable and relaxed. It was also the only way to ensure a CNS shot for a quick and painless death. Shooting from a distance would have likely resulted in a longer time to die and to me that would have been cruel.
Because the law says that people may not intentionally inflict harm or death upon their domesticated pets. If the animal is injured and suffering and their suffering would be prolonged by waiting to get them to a vet, etc. then shooting them is an acceptable solution to the problem. If the animals are merely a nuisance and you’re shooting them for your benefit and not theirs – especially when other options exist to end the nuisance to you, like giving the animals away, taking them to a shelter, even turning them loose to roam – then shooting them is not acceptable. Even if the puppies felt but an instant of pain before their deaths, it was one instant too much.