With their own weapons or the stolen ones?

Via Bill Quick we learn that NOLA police are shooting pet dogs in the streets.

He links to this video, which he warns is horrifyingly graphic.  I haven't seen it.  Don't know if I will.

Call New Orleans city hall at: (504) 658-4000, or email the mayor.

UPDATE:  Secure from general quarters.  Thanks to CERDIP, who watched the film and let me know, it's not really that graphic at all.  In fact, the film begins with a man—possibly a member of the National Guard—discussing his efforts to round up stray dogs and give them food and water until the SPCA can arrive.  He, or someone else, discusses the fact that some dogs are being shot by the police, and we do hear one being shot, according to the interviewee.  But there is no video of animals being killed.

I don't know if they changed the film clip or something, but this particular film isn't graphic at all.

UPDATE:  After reading the several comments at DP on that post, some possibilities present themselves:

• I didn't look/listen closely enough at the film and missed some disturbing details.
• The film has been edited since certain people saw it, and the most graphic, disturbing parts were removed.
• This film wasn't even shot in NOLA, but in St. Bernard Parish.  I have no idea where that is or if it's actually part of New Orleans.

In addition, after Bill mentioned it, I did remember the line "Oh my god, he's still alive...look, he's alive..." after one dog is shot (no video of the dog).  Somehow, this didn't seem quite as horrifying to me as it did to him, although I attribute that totally to my own hard-heartedness and not to Bill making something seem worse than it was.

And just for the record, we have six dogs (and one cat and hermit crab¹) at my household, in part because my middle son is passionate about rescuing dogs that have been abandoned, sometimes we can't find good homes for them afterward, and consigning them to the animal shelter unfortunately means almost certain death, especially for the sort of dogs that we find abandoned.

We wouldn't dream of leaving them behind if we had to evacuate.  They most certainly are part of our family, although I have no idea how we would take all these animals with us (several are medium-to-large-sized dogs, Lab and Husky mixes and such).  If officials told us we had to leave them behind, we'd just have to stay ourselves.  Fortunately we live in an area where the need for evacuation is extremely unlikely (barring chemical, biological or nuclear terrorist attack).  When I sit in my chair, petting one of them as she's partially in my lap, looking up at me lovingly with those big, brown eyes—trusting eyes—I know I could never betray her.  The very thought is beyond incomprehensible.

One more thing—it is possible, though rare, for unvaccinated dogs to spread disease.  That's why the law requires that they all be vaccinated against rabies.  But the chances of someone's abandoned pet making you sick is pretty remote, even if they have missed their shots.

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¹The story of Braveheart the Crab is most interesting—he was found crossing a very wide, very busy street a few miles from our home, and quickly rescued from nearly certain death.  Yes, he was crossing the street.  We have no idea how he ended up traveling so far on his own—there are no homes adjoining—but he certainly deserved a second shot at life after accomplishing that feat.  He now spends his time climbing sticks and munching pieces of fruit in a terrarium at our house.

Comments

[DaveG]

I won't watch it either, although I'm curious if it would reveal whether these dogs are being shot for sport, or because they're feral or rabid. In the latter case, I'm not sure they have any choice and I feel sorry for the people that have to do it. It must be horrible to have the responsibility of performing such an onerous act.