Minn. Farmer ‘Shocked’ After Horses Put Down By State Patrol

[JRolin]

Unfortunate. I do a walk around fence check once a week to try and prevent situations like this.

Im a horse owner myself. I would be upset if someone killed my horse rather than calling me or making a sensible effort to stop it.

Any intelligent person can tell you that you wont catch a loose horse if you chase it around. Half a scoop of feed in a bucket and they will follow you to the moon.

The officers should have shut down the highway. If you have 2 variables in a crazy situation, common sense would tell you that you remove the controllable variable first (stop traffic). It would have taken 2 minutes to stop the traffic and 2 minutes to lead the horse away when the situation was calm.

She should sue them for the cost of the horses. Unless they could prove she knew about the fence being damaged and chose to neglect to repair it.

 

[Patronus]

Unfortunate. I do a walk around fence check once a week to try and prevent situations like this.

Im a horse owner myself. I would be upset if someone killed my horse rather than calling me or making a sensible effort to stop it.

Any intelligent person can tell you that you wont catch a loose horse if you chase it around. Half a scoop of feed in a bucket and they will follow you to the moon.

The officers should have shut down the highway. If you have 2 variables in a crazy situation, common sense would tell you that you remove the controllable variable first (stop traffic). It would have taken 2 minutes to stop the traffic and 2 minutes to lead the horse away when the situation was calm.

She should sue them for the cost of the horses. Unless they could prove she knew about the fence being damaged and chose to neglect to repair it.

A reasonable post...well, up till that last line. YOU are responsible for your animals. No one else. Just as a boat operator is responsible for any damage his wake makes and a dog owner is responsible for anyone his dog bites(if it the dog is out of his yard). I knew a guy who hit a cow on the way to work. Damn near killed him. I do believe the owner of the cow was at fault.

 

[JRolin]

A reasonable post...well, up till that last line. YOU are responsible for your animals. No one else. Just as a boat operator is responsible for any damage his wake makes and a dog owner is responsible for anyone his dog bites(if it the dog is out of his yard). I knew a guy who hit a cow on the way to work. Damn near killed him. I do believe the owner of the cow was at fault.

Your speaking of a situation that did not happen in this instance.

Her horses never caused any harm to anyone or any property. They were shot to death because the troopers were uneducated and the local drivers were impatient.

 

[Dr Larry]

I have not heard anyone comment on how long they think "traffic should be stopped" because 2 horses are running around on a 4-lane divided roadway. 5 min, 20 min, 60 min, how long?
I don't like what happened, but I understand it. The owner relied on an electric fence to contain the horses. Keeps it scenic, but not that sustainable.
It was her responsibility to keep them contained and she would have been responsible if an accident had occurred. We had an incident around here where a number of cows got out at night and wandered a 2-lane highway, causing a number of accidents with significant property damage. This is what the cops were trying to prevent, because they could not corral the horses (not many people could). They already had a number of near-misses, and it's really not that easy to shut down both directions of an interstate.
I do think the state should probably help out with removal of the dead animals.

 

[captdave77]

It reminds me of "Patton".

 

[obiwan]

If I had to sit in stopped traffic while they went to wake up a vet, I'd want to shoot the damn horse myself.

I have not heard anyone comment on how long they think "traffic should be stopped" because 2 horses are running around on a 4-lane divided roadway. 5 min, 20 min, 60 min, how long?
I don't like what happened, but I understand it. The owner relied on an electric fence to contain the horses. Keeps it scenic, but not that sustainable.
It was her responsibility to keep them contained and she would have been responsible if an accident had occurred. We had an incident around here where a number of cows got out at night and wandered a 2-lane highway, causing a number of accidents with significant property damage. This is what the cops were trying to prevent, because they could not corral the horses (not many people could). They already had a number of near-misses, and it's really not that easy to shut down both directions of an interstate.
I do think the state should probably help out with removal of the dead animals.

It was 2 a.m. in the morning. How much traffic could there be that a trooper could not slow traffic down to drive around a horse? Come on guys, once you pull the trigger you can't bring them back. As important as you think you are, your time is not worth that much. Sheesh!!!

Besides, I don't know any horse that won't scram if you fire a shot in the air next to it. If you shoot it on a highway, you'd have to find a way to drag it off and that would take hours. Common sense is dead nowadays.

 

[captdave77]

It was 2 a.m. in the morning. How much traffic could there be that a trooper could not slow traffic down to drive around a horse? Come on guys, once you pull the trigger you can't bring them back. As important as you think you are, your time is not worth that much. Sheesh!!!

Besides, I don't know any horse that won't scram if you fire a shot in the air next to it. If you shoot it on a highway, you'd have to find a way to drag it off and that would take hours. Common sense is dead nowadays.

A highway is full of truck drivers at 2 am. Those guys get paid by the mile and are limited on how many hours they can be behind the wheel regardless of how fast they are traveling. How much should they lose because someone cannot keep control of his livestock?

You are actually saying a police officer should discharge his weapon into the air to scare off a horse? I guess common sense is dead.

 

[obiwan]

A highway is full of truck drivers at 2 am. Those guys get paid by the mile and are limited on how many hours they can be behind the wheel regardless of how fast they are traveling. How much should they lose because someone cannot keep control of his livestock?

You are actually saying a police officer should discharge his weapon into the air to scare off a horse? I guess common sense is dead.

What? Truckers don't slow down a hundred times a day? There's some God given right for them to drive 90 mph nonstop at all hours? They plow right through when they see a deer? Slowing down to drive around an animal is a minor inconvenience, shooting an animal that is perfectly healthy and scared is a ****ing shame. That horse could have just as easily been your dog. Or do you just run over someone else's dog when you're in a hurry to work an AC job?

You know what I mean, the state patrolman could have discharged his pistols a hundred ways to scare off the horse without shooting it or any one else. The common sense remark was directed at the state patrol, not you.

 

[captdave77]

I don't think any of the officers woke up wanting to shoot an animal, but the fact is livestock is property. That property was out of its place and a potential problem. I wish Little Joe could have gotten there with a lasso, but **** happens.

The fact is if the owner had control of his property, this would not have happened. If you are on my property and shoot my dog we have a problem, but if my dog is off my property causing an issue, I can't say a damned thing.

Edit** Losing time is not a mere inconvenience to an OTR driver; it is his livelihood. How much should he lose?

 

[obiwan]

I understand **** happens. You and I disagree on the amount of effort the State trooper put forth to save the horses - 19 mins is not that much time. I don't know if the trooper is just stupid that he can't get a horse to move? Either way, if your dog was on a highway like that, I sure hope they would stop traffic and save it instead of shooting it.