AIBU to think that something other than killing this dog could have been done?

[NotGonnaAnswerThePhone]

This is such a terrible story and not to be read by the fainthearted.

I understand that the dog could have caused an accident even at 3am when traffic is a lot quieter but surely they could have tranquilised it? Shit, even shooting it would have been more humane than accelerating towards it at such a high speed to ensure the dog would be killed outright.

[TealLove]

I think they did the best they could under the circumstances.

[VoldysGoneMouldy]

No, I completely agree with what they did. Horrible, utterly horrible, and those poor officers must be really traumatized. But overall public safety had to be considered.

[CooPie10]

poor dog. But I guess they assessed the situation and decided that's the best way to deal with it. Feel sorry for the officers too, how traumatizing.

[chanie44]

I haven't read the story, but from what I've heard, im not sure what else the police could have done.

[VagueIdeas]

Sounds like they tried really hard to catch the dog, but eventually had to give up and take steps to avoid a serious accident. Must have been a hard decision to make and even harder to actually carry out.

[bertiebuzzard]

Shut the road and catch it would of been my first thought not to put my foot down

[KoalaDownUnder]

That's disgusting.

It was 3 am, not peak hour. They could have temporarily closed the road until they'd chased the dog off it (if he couldn't be caught).

It's cruel and lazy policing.

[PaulAnkaTheDog]

Did you read the article Bertie? They did try and catch it.

There really wasn't anything else they could do. Poor dog and poor police officers though.

[Gileswithachainsaw]

Oh god :(

I've only ever seen tranquilising done on tv but it involves alot of precision with the dosage and getting near enough to do it akd if you miss your chances of getting close enough again are nil.

I guess they did what they felt was best and as horrid as it is having an animal darting about traffic causing others and itself injuries or death.....

not sure I could be the one to do it though. amd I've had to euthanasie animals before. ..

por thing

[Gileswithachainsaw]

and I think even if they had closed the roads there's a good chance that animal would have been "chased" until ot was highly stressed and collapsed from.exhaustion with potentially the same outcome under stressful circumstances

[GloGirl]

Yabu, he was a danger to road users and you can't wait an hour or two (three?) probably to get someone trained and licensed to shoot a dog.

Sure they didn't undertake it lightly. That dog must have been incredibly distressed around all those traffic, people in uniforms. It had already bitten an officer which is very much a sign that says "I cannot take any more".

As someone who has been bitten 'lightly' by a loose dog I would not want any policemen to put themselves in further harms way to save the life of one dog.

I own a dog, if that had happened to him i would understand.

[MrsGentlyBenevolent]

They could have easily closed the road. The dog was apparently in the tunnel, wouldn't have taken much to block it off (A55 is quiet that time of morning, it's not the M25 for fuck sake). What they did was lazy, cruel and immoral. No one in their right mind thinks 'oh, couldn't catch a dog, might as well run it over and hope it dies quickly'. If anyone else did it (other than the police), they would be quite righly arrested. They could have done more, instead they lept to one of the worst possible ways of dealing with it. Hope the ones involved get punished/prosecuted for it.

[NeedACleverNN]

It's not nice but they had to put the public first.

[GloGirl]

So, you close the road MrsGently. You have a dangerous dog on the loose. It is a danger to you and his highly stressed.

How to you contain him? What are you waiting for with a closed road?

[GoodGirlGoneWrong]

I agree with koala

Lazy, poor and cruel policing

[MimiSunshine]

Did you miss the part where it said the A road was UNLIT? You'd have to be one our Majestys finest marksman or women to tranquillise a smallish and low to the ground moving target in the pitch dark.

Running it over would not have been taken lightly and frankly anyone who thinks they didn't do all they could needs to reassess their view of the average person let alone a police officer.
Yes they could have shut the road but they probably still wouldn't have caught it especially (if it had run down rather than across the road) as they'd already tried and it had bite one of them

[MsMims]

YANBU.

Totally inhumane.

[OddBoots]

This is not something one officer would have decided to do, it would have been discussed at a more senior level and the decision made when taking into account all the available options. They will have known it could cause a stir, they must have felt (even if others disagree) that it was the last resort option that they had to take.

[NotGonnaAnswerThePhone]

I do understand that the public's safety is a priority - of course I do. I just think the way it was done was barbaric and cruel

[MrsGentlyBenevolent]

GloGirl - call people better adept to dealing with the situation, the dog unit for example, or the RSPCA. God forbid people have to wait a while to avoid killing an innocent creature. What if it was a child or a person with low capacity running around the road - would the same be ok? Of course not, because that's a person and apparent our lives are 'worth more'. No, sorry I cannot agree with the police's excuses - this was not 'last resort, tried absolutely everything in our power'. This was a pathetic, lazy, heartless action.

[Gileswithachainsaw]

thing is animals will literally maim and kill themselves trying to escape a situation. they don't understand what's happening or that people are trying to help them.

[MrsSeanBean]

What MrsGently said. Bizarre thinking by whoever was in charge that night.

[Gileswithachainsaw]

a child could easily be caught. a person could be caught.

a person would not run head first into walls or chew of limbs to escape.

animals will

[angelos02]

Eh? It was a dog.