Hired guns bid to rid Fayetteville of dogs
Professional dog hunters from Texas (where else?) may be called in to help “solve” Fayetteville, N.C.’s stray dog problem.
A Fort Worth, Texas-based outfit called the “Dangerous Animal Task Force,” or DATF, for short, offered its services to the city in a letter last week to Mayor Tony Chavonne, the Fayetteville Observer reported.
The Observer reported earlier this month that up to 150 “wild dogs” are roaming city neighborhoods, ”killing pets and threatening residents,” and that the county’s Animal Services Department had limited resources to capture the feral canines.
(There is no city animal control office, which may help explain why there’s a problem in the first place.)
DATF (no, that’s not them in the photo — just a generic posse) has proposed sending four representatives to the city who would spend two weeks hunting the dogs with tranquilizer darts.
The darts would include GPS chips that — assuming the darts stay intact — would allow the hunters to find animals who kept running after being shot. The animals would then be taken to the county animal shelter.
I’m sure you can guess what would happen there — although that part of it isn’t being talked about much.
City Manager Dale Iman briefed the City Council this week about the “task force,” saying, ”I think we have a good chance of making an impact.” The two-week “deployment” — to use DATF’s terminology — would cost $29,000, with the city and county splitting the cost.
According to the group’s letter, its mission is to assist law enforcement and other local authorities in emergency situations, natural disasters and other events in which dangerous animals are involved.
The company’s website — it does not appear to be a non-profit organization, though it does seek donations – is a pretty bare bones affair, peppered with photos of violent animals and Homeland Security and FEMA logos. It offers no information in the way of actual cases it has handled.
Nobody asked me, but my advice to Fayetteville would be to think hard about calling in hired guns. Their shoot- first-ask-questions-later approach could easily lead to some pets being bagged along with the so-called feral dogs — and while the professional hunters will only be tranquilizing them, some missing and wandering pets could be swept up, and subjected to step two.
Rather than a gun-toting dog posse, wouldn’t it make more sense to seek help from a group like Best Friends Animal Society or the Humane Society of the United States, who could evaluate the animals as individuals, rather than as trophies?
There was a time in America when bounties were placed on dogs. Calling in gunmen is a little too reminiscent of that for me.
I’m not disputing that many or even most of the dogs to be hunted are dangerous — but does a generation or two living back in the wild make them hopeless cases?
If Michael Vick’s dogs, after what they went through, could be rehabilitated and become family pets, don’t these deserve a chance? And why isn’t anyone speaking up for them?
Posted by jwoestendiek July 22nd, 2011 under Muttsblog.
Tags: animal control, animals, bounty hunters, city council, dangerous animals, dangerous animals task force, darts, datf, dogs, euthanasia, euthanized, exterminating, fayetteville, feral, help, hunters, hunting dogs, north carolina, pets, posse, problem, professional, shooting, shooting dogs, shooting strays, strays, texas, tranquilizer darts, wild
Comments
Comment from jwoestendiek
Time July 22, 2011 at 2:07 pm
I haven’t heard of any plans to “evaluate” the captured dogs, have you? My guess is plans call for another word that starts with “E”. Seems it would be wise, if “evaluating” was the plan, to have it in place before the big round up. My point is, I think a lot of people would be more comfortable with an animal welfare organization calling the shots, and rounding up the dogs, than “professional hunters.”
John/ohmidog!
Comment from Sue
Time July 22, 2011 at 4:50 pm
I’m sitting here stunned with my mouth hanging open. I mean, I live in a county where it’s not unusual for law enforcement to shoot stray dogs… but to call in a death squad? And pay money for it? And they see no need to fund any type of animal control facility? Pardon my language, but… WTF?
Comment from jc28306
Time July 22, 2011 at 6:16 pm
Ok first of all, stop and think about what you people are saying, they are not hunters, they do not kill animals, they safely capture and control these animals.
For all you people who think they are wild dogs, they are most likely not wild and abandoned by their irresponsible owners and residents of Cumberland County who dumped them on our streets, this is starting to be a problem across the United States as well as Fayetteville.
And whoever wrote this article needs to research their information, the DATF is a non-profit organization and is allowed by law to except donations.
RESEARCH. RESEARCH and RESEARCH before you slander someone or an organization.
The DATF does not kill, and for them to post every incident or response they went to and explained it on the website would just be offering.
Comment from Christine
Time July 22, 2011 at 6:27 pm
let’s get the story straight , they don’t even carry guns and they’re not dog hunters. they don’t kill, they control aggressive animals when animal control need more resources, and they help capture large packs of dogs when animal control doesn’t have enough people. They’re also non-profit and every member is a certified animal control officer. these animals get evaluated for adoptions , so this above story obviously means some people didn’t do their research. there are no gunmen in this! think before you talk, ohmidog!
Comment from James
Time July 22, 2011 at 6:51 pm
Be wary of Texans baring guns and touting efficiency. Hast makes waste. Remind them in Fayetteville, N.C. that it’s a people problem and not a dog problem and adding a Texan to solve it will only make it worse. ( we don’t remember the Alamo any more we remember Bush)
Comment from Ruth Nicholas
Time July 22, 2011 at 6:58 pm
They don’t temperament test in Cumberland County Animal Control for the strays and surrenders, so my guess is they certainly won’t for ‘wild dogs’. This is even worse than their last idea – to use crossbows on the dogs!
Comment from jwoestendiek
Time July 22, 2011 at 8:30 pm
Hi Christine and Jimmy, Thanks for your comments. Getting the story straight is what we are all about — and what I wrote did not say they kill the dogs. Please advise me what they shoot the tranquilizing darts with, if not guns, or guns that have been euphemistically renamed “launchers.” Also, since there is no listing for the organization at guidestar.org, I’d appreciate any direction you can provide to where I might be able to confirm the non-profit status you say DATF has. Does it operate under other names?
john/ohmidog!
Comment from Joyce Rose
Time July 23, 2011 at 1:35 am
Are u f***ing serious? So we now live in a 3rd world country? Wow welcome to Romainia all I can say is thank God and the USA for 2nd amendment rights!
Comment from Sue
Time July 23, 2011 at 11:11 am
Since I’m the one that referred to DATF as a death squad, let me expand on my comment. I cannot understand why some of the animal welfare groups (HSUS, ASPCA, Best Friends come immediately to mind) have not been contacted to request assistance. Oh no, instead this city’s response to their “wild dog” problem is to hire a “task force” to come in with guns (sorry, but they are guns) to shoot the dogs with tranquilizer darts and then transport them to a “kill” shelter. Sorry, but in my book, that’s a death squad. More importantly, it is a very short-view of handling the problem. Rather than bulk up their animal control efforts (staff, spay and neuter clinics, public education, etc) they turn to “hired guns.”
Comment from jwoestendiek
Time July 23, 2011 at 11:25 am
Couldn’t have said it better myself — and probably didn’t.
john/ohmidog!
Pingback from Can Professional Gunmen Stop Fayetteville Stray Dog Problem? | Care2 Causes
Time July 23, 2011 at 5:05 pm
[...] Ohmidog blog reported on this story and brought up some very interesting alternatives to shooting dogs in [...]
Comment from Maureen D
Time July 24, 2011 at 7:03 pm
I would like to see communities that cannot control their unwanted dog problem to invest in better spay and neuter programs/laws then you would not have these issues.
Comment from akd1953
Time July 25, 2011 at 10:24 am
I’ve never heard of hiring people to come in a community and “shoot” dogs, take them somewhere and then leave. There is a lot more to be learned about what is happening to these dogs. I think TNR is is the way to go instead of killing stray animals but I don’t know what these dogs are doing. Perhaps they are dangerous to the community but if so why now why not when the problem was first identified. It seems that there is much more to this story than contained in this article.
Comment from Lesa Pond
Time July 25, 2011 at 1:38 pm
Not all these dogs are bad. They should be evaluated and not killed
Comment from Ron
Time July 26, 2011 at 12:28 am
I have rescued many a stray, both visibly someone’s pet who just wandered, as well as animals who have been living wild for a long time. I have spent over $5,000.00 of my own money in the last 10 years taking these animals to vets for check-ups and treatments, nursing many back to health in my own home, and then finding homes for them. However, any animal or group of animals that cross my path, which pose a threat to my children or my property will be meet with a bullet, not a tranquilizer dart.
Comment from Kathryn
Time July 22, 2011 at 12:51 pm
Seems that any ‘evaluation’ would have to be after the dog was captured, which is the DATF’s goal. then they can call whomever to ‘evaluate’ temperament/health,etc. prior to anticipated ‘placement.