Mistrial declared in Galveston cat-killing case

Stevens is accused of using a .22-caliber scoped rifle and a hollow-point bullet to kill a cat...

...the prosecution painted Stevens as unconcerned about the cat's suffering

Those two statements do not show consistency on the part of the prosecution, in my opinion.

When we lived in the California backcountry, city idiots would dump their dogs, which naturally, formed packs.

Some 25 odd years ago in rural SoCal, on a dawning Sunday morning, I was awakened by my neighbor beating on my door and yelling for me get a gun. Three large, feral dogs had broken into his rabbit shed, and had broken open some of the cages, and killed several rabbits.

I shot all three, while hearing many more shoots from around the area.

When all was said and done, a total of 15 dogs had been killed, from a pack that had come out of the river bed, then split into smaller groups attacking anything they could find.

This had two salutary effects:

A) My neighbor changed his mind about guns, and became an active shooter;

B) It prodded law enforcement, animal control, and Fish & Game to undertake a concerted joint aerial & ground attack on the packs of both feral dogs and coyotes that were running in the area.

While I'll shoot ferals when necessary, I'd really rather shoot the SOB who dumped them.

I think there’s a difference between you shooting strays on your property, a LEO just doing his job encountering a protective dog and a Dirty Harry wannabe going into a park and shooting what he thinks are evildoers.

You are on your property, shooting known strays protecting your livestock. The LEO is a shame but still an unfortunate accident. The Dirty Harry wannabe is a psycho who thinks he’s above the law.

There were options other than breaking the law available to this guy. He didn’t have to start shooting. Did he voice his concerns to the organization which ran the park? Did he explore a lawsuit to force the state to do something about it? No, he got the hankerin’ for killin’ and went off on his own.

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