What's a dog worth? Colorado court says $262,000.

A Colorado dog owner received an unusually large settlement after a police officer shot his dog. As Americans become less tolerant of animal cruelty, new frameworks for animal law and police response are being developed.

|
CBS News Denver
One of the largest legal settlements of its kind, Gary Branson of Commerce City, Colo., was awarded $262,000 after police fatally shot his dog.

A Colorado dog owner received $262,000 in a settlement over a police shooting of his dog, one of the largest-ever settlements in this type of case.

Officer Robert Price of Commerce City, Colo., shot and killed a dog in 2012 during response to a report of a "loose, vicious dog" while the owner, Gary Branson, was out of town, Allison Sylte reported for USA Today. The officer was found not guilty of animal cruelty, but a neighbor filmed the encounter, and the resulting video showed the dog, Chloe, cowering before three officers.

The large, monetary settlement comes as society is demonstrating a decreased tolerance for offenses against animals - and police use of excessive force generally. Earlier in January, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) began the collection of data on animal abuse, The Christian Science Monitor reported. The FBI points to research showing criminals who harm other humans egregiously often begin by hurting animals.

Animal rights advocates and pet owners welcome the announcement, but a growing body of people say preventing animal abuse is a priority in its own right, the Associated Press reported. Police often do not report, much less punish, officers who shoot dogs, but laws protecting animals are beginning to change. Only seven states had felony charges for animal cruelty in 1993, but now 46 states have instituted such laws.

"The right category for pets is closer to children, who can't vote, can't own property but you can't inflict pain on them, either," Peter Singer, a Princeton professor and animal rights advocate, told Jeffrey Toobin for the New Yorker. "The law is catching up with societal beliefs."

Whether it is because they view their pet as a member of the family or their personal property deserving Fourth Amendment protection, there are now websites tracking police shootings of dogs and animal abuse, indicative of declining tolerance for such acts.

Even if the legal question remains ambivalent, is there a path to progress beyond penalizing the police or asserting a shaky animal rights position? Nathan J. Robinson, writing for The Washington Post, suggested police try tactics that have helped the post office:

Just like police officers, postal workers regularly encounter both vicious and gregarious dogs on their daily rounds. But letter carriers don’t kill dogs, even though they are bitten by the thousands every year. Instead, the Postal Service offers its employees training on how to avoid bites. (In addition, the agency keeps a centralized database of dog bites, a marked contrast to the lack of data on police killings.) At the sessions, handlers put postal workers through sample scenarios using live dogs, teaching them how to calm a dog, distract a dog and even fend one off if necessary.

To provide a similar resource to police, the National Canine Research Council published an hour-long training video. With help from the Department of Justice, the New York-based think tank produced videos to avoid, communicate with, or respond to dog encounters in the line of duty, according to its website. 

"First and foremost, Police and Dog Encounters is about staying safe," according to a news release. "It gives officers hands-on skills and information to protect themselves, the residents nearby, and the dogs they encounter in the line of duty."

The training videos can be downloaded free of charge and attempt to offer an alternative that balances the duty and safety of police with the growing interest of society in animal welfare.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to What's a dog worth? Colorado court says $262,000.
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/USA-Update/2016/0126/What-s-a-dog-worth-Colorado-court-says-262-000
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe