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More care should be taken with pets to keep all safe

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  • Mike Forman •
  • Originally published January 17, 2009 at 4:54 p.m., updated January 17, 2009 at 4:54 p.m.

Recent unfortunate events involving loose dogs have spurred us once again to implore owners to be sure their pets are safely confined on their property, for the animals' safety as well as passing pedestrians and motorists.

A dog here in Victoria got loose, somehow, last Monday and had to be shot by a police officer after it acted in a threatening manner to some neighbors. Loose dogs could cause accidents, as well.

And a while back, we wrote about a law enforcement officer who hit two dogs while driving past a house where they had somehow escaped their fence.

As we have said before, it is not our intent to point fingers of blame at the dogs' owners or anyone else in these sad occurrences.

We do, however, believe that all over Victoria, and every town in the Crossroads area, for that matter, more stringent safety precautions can be taken to ensure that such things don't happen near as often.

Dogs are a roaming, hunting species by nature, and if they are given half a chance, they will spring for the freedom of the open air.

Whether they think they are protecting their territory from intruders, or are simply aggressive toward strangers, when they roam free they are a tragedy waiting to happen.

We believe the police officer who used his shotgun on the aggressive pit bull last Monday did the only thing he could have done under the circumstances.

Similar incidents, in which either people or dogs have been injured or killed, have occurred much too often around the country.

With proper caution, many of them can be prevented, and that is the responsibility of the animals' owners. It goes with being a dog owner.

This editorial reflects the views of the Victoria Advocate's editorial board.



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