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.

It would not have been at risk of being run over if the police had done their actual jobs, and closed the road. It would have hardly caused a huge issue at 3am.

Do you have any idea how many police officers and cars it takes to carry out a road closure? More than they have kicking about at 0300 I'll guess...

They actually would have had to use their tiny brains to think up a safe solution.

That's just bloody offensive.

Sad yes but the police did what had to be done to avoid a major accident.

The article states calls came into the control room at 3am, you then need to factor in time for the police to get to scene, time spent attempting to catch the animal repeatedly so you're looking at 2 to 3 hours of time spent so by the time the decision was made to kill the dog it would have been around 5 / 6am ish and trffic would be building up.

Add to that the fact the A55 is one of the main routes to Holyhead Port means that it is still fairly busy with HGV's travelling to and from the port all night long.

Sadly human life IS more valuable than that of a dog.

The dog had attacked a police officer and HGV's had already had to swerve to avoid hitting it, it was dangerous and something had to be done.

it's a shame it did happen so early in the morning - if it had been rush hour, they couldn't have rammed it at speed could they

THIS! What would they have done during rush hour?

I love how people on here seem to know exactly what resources the police have to deal with this situation. And how they know that it's perfectly simple to just shut down a road.

tigermoll - everytime there is a cruelty to animals incident, someone has to come out with this lame argument. You know exactly what I mean in this case - same as when the lion was murdered a few months ago. There is humanly killing an animal, then there's hitting it with your car and hoping it dies quickly (and you don't cause an even bigger accident when aiming for the poor thing). I do not disagree with putting an animal out of their misery if they are truly suffering - but hitting anything with you car in the hope of killing, when you haven't tried all options, that is wrong. Really don't understand how that requires explaination, though it was basic common sense - 'running over things to kill them is inhumane'.

Well, more information is available: one officer had already been bitten; HGVs using the road had had to swerve to avoid it; there is an investigation underway.

In rush hour someone else would have hit it, maybe only injuring it and possibly causing an accident in the process.

And I am sorry, but if PETA think they can raise any money from this they can just fuck off!

They actually would have had to use their tiny brains to think up a safe solution.

That's just bloody offensive.

OK, I agree it was not the best phrase to use. However, I cannot believe that not one person on duty that morning did not have any better idea how to deal with it than how they did. This cannot be the first time something like this has happened on the roads, so either there is a better way of dealing with it and what they did was cruel, stupid and against regualtions or this happens all the time, we're just finding out about how police treat animals on the roads.

It is unlikely in the extreme that a dog warden would have been to hand. In Cardiff they operate Mon-Fri 9-5. That's it. It isn't a 24 hour service. North Wales is unlikely to have more resources to spend than Cardiff so imagine it is the same there.

It does seem a very odd course of action to have taken but I imagine it wasn't something done lightly.

SoBenevolent what would you have done?

Remember:

*unlit road
*biting people
*vehicles swerving
*unable to catch it
*rspca unable to do anything
*police not having the resources to do anything

An animal hit by a vehicle at high speed is likely to be knocked unconscious and die very quickly of massive trauma.

It's unpleasant for us to think about but I'm not sure that it's any less humane than other methods.

Catching a dog in this situation would be very difficult

They did manage to catch it and it bit the officer and got away again.
No one who thinks this is OTT has dealt with a panicked or injured dog. They cant go firing 'tranquiliser' darts around in public, its not safe for anyone including the dog.

comments saying they should just have shut the road don't have a clue. It is really dangerous to shut a motorway and takes time. It has to be done slowly and phased back up the motorway.

I will always save a human life above and animal and humans could well have died swerving to avoid hitting that dog.

I think they did the right thing.

I love how shutting down an A Road is also a magical strong blockade that will stop the dog from running around the side or running right through it and then back in again into moving traffic.

Yes, they could have closed the road. And waited until the right person with the right equipment in Wales who only lives 3 miles away comes to sort it out. There is some sort of magic ring fence blocking in this dog stopping him running away that leaves him a perfect target for a tranquiliser that floats like a feather , touches the dog first time and sings him a magic lullaby as he drifts off to a happy dreamy sleep.

The A55 isn't a motorway and at 3am is very quiet. And I'm not a police officer Paul, but as I said, if this had happened during the day, this is not the course of action that would have been taken, so there must have been other options available. Are you saying the police really don't have the resources to put up a couple of roadblocks?

I also find it quite ironic that people are saying 'there could have been an accident with people swerving to avoid the dog' - because our natural instincs tell us not to hit animals or anyone with cars. Yet the police do it with intent to kill, and it's a-ok . Police seem to manage to deal with a situation like this if it's a swan, why on earth was a dog any different? Oh, it's because it's 'just a dog' and their lives are worth less, right.

Do police cars carry first aid kits? Bandage fashioned into a slip lead, popped over dogs head, another bandage used as a makeshift muzzle........

Do police cars carry first aid kits? Bandage fashioned into a slip lead, popped over dogs head, another bandage used as a makeshift muzzle........

In the dark, with an agitated viscous dog, and traffic? Good one!

The A55 isn't a quiet country road, it is the North Wales Expressway, a busy dual carriageway, and is not all that quiet at 3am. Many HGVs use it overnight to get to and from Holyhead.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A55_road

It was 3 0'clock in the morning, little traffic, the dog was scared not viscious and police cars have headlights.

Well as you pointed out Benevolent you are not a police officer, so I don't really think you are qualified to talk about a 'couple of roadblocks'. It isn't that simple.

It bit someone, therefore it was vicious.

And there was traffic, big traffic.

It was 3 0'clock in the morning, little traffic, the dog was scared not viscious and police cars have headlights.

It was gone 3am as the calls only came in to the control centre at 3am.

The A55 is a main HGV route to and from Holyhead and is busy most of the time therefore not little traffic.

Any dog that bites someone is, in my opinion, vicious even if it is scared.

And yes police cars do have headlights but how exactly do you get a petrified and bitey dog to cooperate by standing in front of said headlights while you wrangle with some bandages?

Dh works in software, we often laugh and the number of non-computing people who will ask for a change with 'can you just...' with no idea what the "just" would entail. I have no idea what would go into safely blocking a major road and fencing off the sides of it to trap and catch a dog but I suspect it is not something the police could 'just' do.

No it isn't that simple, but you can dress it up any way you want - what they did was wrong. If it was ok, then it would be the norm. I have said many times during this thread that animals on the road is not unusual - yet this this is the first time we hear of them being run over to get them out of the way. You know why there's an outcry? Because it is a horrible thing to do and not normal or right.

I don't need an explaination of the A55 thank you, I know the road like the back of my hand. It's not a dead road at 3am, but it is silly comparing it to a motorway. Something else could have been done - but god forbid we inconvinence anyone by doing so. People have a right to whatever they want, other animals should know that. How do they not know by now not to get in our way?

Lil Yes you have made my day! Just make a sort of a lead, then approach an aggressive stressed dog and, hmm, lassoo it over his head and Ta Da! You have caught a feral dog, have a cookie.