No shepherd wants to shoot a dog, therefore most utilize
donkeys, llamas and guard dogs to protect the flock.
Today the Texas legislature may vote on a bill that would expand defenses for killing loose dogs.
HB 1472 adds a defense to prosecution under the current animal cruelty statute. According to a House Committee analysis of the bill:
H.B. 1472 amends the Penal Code to include among the defenses to prosecution for an animal cruelty offense of intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly killing, poisoning, or causing bodily injury to an animal without the owner's effective consent, the defense that a person committed the offense on discovering that the animal was on the person's property in the act of or after harassing the person's livestock animals. The bill defines "harass" to mean to disturb, worry, molest, harry, torment, or chase.
Among groups who testified against the HB 1472: Exotic Wildlife Association, Texas Poultry Federation, Texas Pork Producers Association, and Texas Sheep and Goat Raisers Association. These are all groups who suffer losses of livestock to marauding loose animals, yet they oppose the bill. The concern is that the definition of "harass" is too vague, and that there is no way to prove that an animal has not harassed livestock.
Current law is adequate in that it allows a defense to prosecution if the animal killed was discovered "injuring or killing" livestock. Animals can easily be injured while being chased, so the harassment language is redundant and unnecessary. A flock of captive birds being chased by a determined dog or cat would have virtually no chance of escaping injury. Sheep and goats can easily be run to death without breaking a bone or being bitten. The aftermath of such exhaustion, including fever and even pneumonia, could be easily quantified by the shepherd or by a veterinarian and therefore classified as injury.
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