UPDATE: MNR Catches Dogs

[trappermatt]

At one time Around this area dogs chasing deer used to be a big problem , this was back when nearly every farm had a family on it and everyone had a dog or two , most were mutts , collie , shepherd , hound type stuff , the common response to dogs chasing game or livestock was the owners got a call or two saying look your dogs are running ,if it wasn't resolved , the dogs just didn't come home one day , nowadays there are more dogs in town then in the country around here due to the demise of the small family farm and the change to big operations so much less in the way of dog issues but I know for a fact things are still handled the same way as they used to be your dog causes continued problems running stuff and it won't come home , in the past 2 years my municipality has payed two claims for livestock kills and both were dogs , we haven't paid for a coyote claim in around 10 years here

[DGearyFTE]

First and foremost I am a dog lover. It is never a good thing to see a dog have to be put down. Having said that I remember growing up in the Niagara Region in the 70s when there was more farmland. At the time there was a fairly common issue with dogs forming packs and hunting just about everything. At this point the dogs had become feral and there was really no good way to domesticate them afterward.
The sad part is that it really comes back to 'bad dog owners' and not bad dogs. It is all well and fine for the bleeding hearts to cry about the dogs but their focus should be on finding the owners and dealing with them. In the final outcome it is IMO a better and more humane solution to dispatch them.

[welsh]

It is not just a matter of dogs killing deer. The thing is, the winter is already tough on deer and dogs will run them and use up their energy reserves so the deer later die thanks to weather, starvation, etc. So there is good reason for shooting dogs running deer. Meanwhile, a lot of people in the country still let their dogs run at large.

However....

Unfortunately IMHO I think if this did not hit the media these dogs would have been put down already.

I really don't think the media had as much to do with this as people think. The MNR is essentially limited to shooting dogs that are actually chasing deer; they can't shoot dogs simply because they're running at large (except in circumstances that don't apply here). So there's no reason to think they wouldn't ordinarily try solutions other than bullets.

[krismerry]

Welsh,

I agree with you 100%. All I was saying with the media is. If nothing was brought to the them would "One of the dogs was taken in with the help of an area resident." this resident have helped? If not, would we be reading a different story? I would think. That is if it would even make the news. Just to clarify "Unfortunately IMHO I think if this did not hit the media these dogs would have been put down already." the words put down are in the wrong context. I should have said dispatched.

Yes lots of people would take in a dog off the street to look for its owner. My wife and I in the past 5 years have had 6 dogs in our backyard or garage, waiting for owners to come home. 5 have gone home to the owner, 1 has gone to animal control. Worst was a Beagle. It had some very nasty marks around his jaw almost like someone tied it up to keep quiet. My wife had called animal control as he seemed to be in bad shape. His muzzle was had fresh blood and it was just oozing. I was able to get him cleaned up before they arrived. Wish I could have kept him. He had a great sounding tongue.

I really don't think the media had as much to do with this as people think. The MNR is essentially limited to shooting dogs that are actually chasing deer; they can't shoot dogs simply because they're running at large (except in circumstances that don't apply here). So there's no reason to think they wouldn't ordinarily try solutions other than bullets.