They kill pets because 99.999% of the time, noting will happen to them for doing it.
What you said, because they face no consequence for their actions.
The only reason they have to give is that, in their sole opinion, they felt threatened. Case closed before it is opened.
I’m notorious for dividing creation into two groups:
1. Man
2. Natural resource.
This means I have no problem with people shooting dogs at their whim, UNLESS THE DOG IS SOMEONE ELSE’S PROPERTY.
I ran over a golden retriever once while driving, of all things, a full church bus. There was nothing I could do and it was most definitely dead and squished. The gravity of the situation really sank in was when the owner, a twenty something living with mom and dad, came out bawling like I just killed her husband.
When you kill a family pet, you are often killing, at the emotional level, a member of the family. This should not be taken lightly. You don’t have to feel for the animal at all, but the impact on the human beings that suffer the loss can be extreme. When you do it on purpose and without reasonable justification, you should have to suffer legal consequences.
They have the guns, they have the badge and they are primed and ready for action.
They get psyched up for the take down, the adrenalin rises and they are ready to shoot.
Most of the time they realize they will have a problem killing a person without just cause but a dog is a freebie.
If they can't take out the target they can damage it by killing the family pet.