Man faces charges after dog kills raccoon that caused damage to garage

Jackson Citizen Patriot ^ | February 09, 2011, 6:00 AM | Danielle Salisbury

[Gennie]

Man faces misdemeanor charge of animal cruelty after his dog kills young raccoon that caused some damage to garage

Seth Foster, 23, said he found his family garage in disarray last summer and sent his dog in the building to investigate.

Grizz, a blue heeler, returned with the culprit, a young raccoon.

As two teenage boys watched, one of them filming its actions with a cell phone, Grizz killed the coon, Foster said.

Now, Foster is facing a misdemeanor charge of animal cruelty resulting in death, which is punishable by a maximum of 90 days in jail and a $500 fine. A jury trial is scheduled for Feb. 25 in Jackson County District Court.

Foster, whose father owns a nuisance animal control business, contends he did not do anything wrong. The raccoon damaged his family’s property on Ivan Drive in Spring Arbor Township.

“It’s ridiculous,” he said of the charge. “Everybody I’ve talked to says it’s ridiculous.”

There is a proper way to deal with a pest and it does not involve animal agony, said Chief Assistant Prosecutor Mark Blumer. Raccoons can be trapped alive or quickly and efficiently killed, he said.

Blumer said the dog was encouraged to attack the raccoon and “tear it apart.” He likened this to cockfighting or dogfighting, both of which are illegal. “There is legitimate sport, and then there’s cruel sport,” he said.

“Because you have a license to kill a deer, doesn’t mean you can break all its legs and watch it die slowly.”

He said the prosecutor’s office offered Foster a “reasonable settlement,” the details of which Blumer did not know, but Foster declined to take it. “I am innocent,” Foster said.

The two boys also were charged. Their cases were handled by the juvenile court. Blumer did not know how or whether they had been resolved. The case files are not open to the public.

Foster said the boys lived near his family at the time and would sometimes come to their home. They egged on the dog, he said. Foster said he took the raccoon from Grizz, but the dog got it back.

It did not take Grizz, a smaller herding dog, a long time to kill the animal, Foster said.

A neighbor’s mother called the police, Foster said, and a deputy arrived. According to court records, the incident occurred Aug. 1.

The dog helps Foster and his father, Mike Foster, locate raccoons in attics or small crawl spaces while the Fosters do their work. They catch the animals and sometimes euthanize them.

Mike Foster owns Foster’s Wildlife Control Services. He’s been in the business for about 30 years. The company specializes in trapping, removing and excluding nuisance wildlife. He said he and his son hunt and the family primarily eats wild meat.

In all his work with animals, Mike Foster said he has seen worse than a dog killing a coon. “People put out antifreeze for animals to poison,” he said.

“You can’t call one thing cruel and let other stuff slide.”

The whole incident has been “blown out of proportion,” he said. “To me, it’s no different than if you buy a cat to kill mice.”

There is a difference, Blumer said. The killing of mice is not controlled.

There are trapping and hunting seasons for raccoons. According to the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Environment, a property owner without a license or permit may kill a raccoon all year if the animal is damaging or about to damage private property.

Mike and Seth Foster said the raccoon Grizz killed put a hole in the garage. It damaged a door, ate stored bird feed and knocked tools off a work bench. It was “raising hell,” Mike Foster said.

Dogs cannot be used in Michigan to kill game, only to chase, retrieve or find it, a DNRE spokeswoman said.

Blumer said it would be different if the dog had gotten the raccoon on its own and killed it without human intervention. In that case, it’s nature.

[jacknhoo]

"Today you would be arrested and get more time than if you drowned a human"

There is so much truth in that statement, it breaks one's heart:

A mother convicted of killing her one-month-old baby and burying him in a public park in Baltimore has been convicted and sentenced to counseling at Planned Parenthood. That's right, counseling at Planned Parenthood.

http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fweblogs.baltimoresun.com%2Fnews%2Fcrime%2Fblog%2F2011%2F01%2Fwoman_who_killed_baby_convicte.html&h=e055b

[cripplecreek]

I grew up coon hunting all over Jackson County.

[Huskrrrr]

[Gennie]

Disgusting :(

[21twelve]

“...said the raccoon Grizz killed put a hole in the garage. It damaged a door, ate stored bird feed and knocked tools off a work bench. It was “raising hell,” Mike Foster said.”

Another article I read said that Foster was filing a counter-suit against the young raccoon’s mother and father for not keeping him controlled. Party to the suit is the local Sheriff, County Animal Control officer, and the town Zoning Council.

Too bad the stupid kids were there to video tape it. And if they were my kids, they would have been reprimanded for egging the dog on - that’s not right. But a fine!? (The audio on those cell phones is pretty bad, I wonder if his lawyer can make the jury hear “Go Grizz, that coon will tear you apart”.

[Gator113]

“Shoot
Shovel
Shut-up”

Good advice...... ;>)

[Dubya-M-DeesWent2SyriaStupid!]

Next we will be jailed for killing snakes that lurk under our homes or bees in the air handler of our AC’s.

[SeeSac]

OMG! What a waste of time! Animals kill other animals all the time. It is a part of nature! OY!!!!

"Blumer said it would be different if the dog had gotten the raccoon on its own and killed it without human intervention. In that case, it’s nature."

[Dubya-M-DeesWent2SyriaStupid!]

Do they even care if the baby coon was rabid or not?

[DariusBane]

“Clearly the law needs to be changed to permit dogs to clear vermin from dwellings. Or would they rather have people trying to shoot these?”

How about instead of changing the law, everyone just mind their own business.

I have read this thread and seen comparisons to a human baby being killed. I also hear a bunch of amateur attorneys (the only thing worse than amateur attorneys are real attorneys) dissecting little points of law.

To hell with all that. Everybody just needs to mind their own business and stay out of each others way. If real damage to real property or life occurs then fine. But this is just a bunch of nosy, bored, weenies with nothing to do other than figure out new and exiting ways to control the actions of others.

The prosecutor should be tarred and feathered. Same with any police or deputies that serve the papers. It’s time to go all 1774 and regain our individual liberties. Remember that? How does the song go? “This land of liberty to thee I sing”. Hell liberty hasn’t been seen here for 100 years. Anybody know where she went?

[RobRoy]

Where are the rights of animals mentioned in the constitution? I’m just not finding it.

[bert]

Blumer is surplus population

[GOYAKLA]

My Jake’s total, that I know of. 6+ land crabs, 3 snakes, 1 iguana. Sargent and Major(Beagles), where partial to rabbits. Major got paid back when he got to close to a gator.
All 6 of my dogs never learned to stay away from the Buffos!

[rahbert]

Fine if you live on 20 acres. Not so fine if my house is right next door.

Idiots will always be amonst us, which is why we need laws, police, guns, etc...

[kanawa]

[668 - Neighbor of the Beast]

A few minutes to kill it. Would have been mercifully quick for Terri Schindler Schiavo, who was 13 days dying of dehydration, and she didn’t damage anyone’s garage. No charges (in this world) brought against any of her killers or their enablers or their defenders.

[chessplayer]

Wow! It knocked some tools off a bench, so sic the dog on it so it can be ripped apart for the kids entertainment! I hope those poor little innocent kids get some karma.

[cripplecreek]

I watched a Jackson City cop nearly shoot himself one day while putting down a deer that had been hit by a car. The deer’s head was on the sidewalk and the idiot put his service weapon right up to its temple and pulled the trigger.

[DariusBane]

“If real damage to real property or life occurs then fine.”

That is the threshold. Take responsibility for your own safety. A high fence and strong front door makes for great neighbors.

Police and courts are last resort and for cleaning up the mess.

[Fantomw]

I bet this jackass DA figures the man should have called the police to handle this.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,292168,00.html