Good shoot or bad shoot?

[AZRedhawk44]

http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2013/05/08/minn-farmer-shocked-after-horses-put-down-by-state-patrol/

Cops put down two horses that strayed onto I-35 at 2AM in Minnesota.  They were only on scene for 10 minutes before making the decision to euthanize the horses for the sake of traffic safety.  20 minutes had passed from the first 911 calls from motorists to the killing of the horses.

Do you consider this a good decision, or not?


I understand the traffic safety issue, but I think it was a bad call.

It was poor "execution" (pun noted but not intended) on the part of DPS.  Humane Society, Animal Control, Zoo emergency services... something like that could have been dispatched.  Somebody with a tranquilizer rifle.  And 911 should have a script for such contingencies.

20 minutes of horses on the highway is plenty of time to have Animal Control show up with a tranq gun, if they are part of the emergency response system.

[makattak]

I'm saddened the horses had to be put down here, but I can't fault the police.

It was 2 am. I don't know any zoo or animal control that has staff to get a tranquilizer sufficient to put out a horse available at 2 am.

It sucks, but every other option has risks. The could not allow them to keep running around until they caused a major accident. (As for other options, I don't even know if the police would have been able to shut the road down quickly enough, assuming they'd have to shut both sides of the road down and cannot predict where the horses might roam.)

Would have been nice if someone could have alerted the horses' owner as well, but I don't know that she would have gotten out there quickly enough, either. Further, it was 2am, and I don't know if the police would have had enough officers to spare with two on the road trying to prevent accidents and yet another one looking for the horse owner.

[roo_ster]

None of the animal control folks in my town or the adjoining Big City have tranq gear.

If it was not busy at that time (2am) I might have tried to spend more time containing the horses, but I am pretty sympathetic to the cops on this one.  Horses can be flipping huge and can total a car and kill the occupants.

Think of this analogy:
* Mentally ill man escapes institution.
* Runs about with a knife, slashing at the air, ground, or anything that comes by.

On a flat, featureless plain, let him exhaust himself.  If dude is walking toward a populated area, you might have to put him down.

[AZRedhawk44]

No "compliance-by-taser?"

[roo_ster]

No "compliance-by-taser?"

How big of a Taser do you need for a 2000lb animal?  Perhaps throw a set of jumper cables (hooked up to the cop car) at the horse?

[AZRedhawk44]

http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2010-04/taser-shocks-meth-intoxicated-sheep-dont-harm-heart-taser-study-says

Couldn't find anything about horses, but Taser tested their devices on meth-addled sheep.  Srsly.

[roo_ster]

http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2010-04/taser-shocks-meth-intoxicated-sheep-dont-harm-heart-taser-study-says

Couldn't find anything about horses, but Taser tested their devices on meth-addled sheep.  Srsly.

I did not expect that.

Then again, nobody expects The Spanish Inquisition meth-addled sheep.

[Gewehr98]

Must know more about drugged sheep.

How are they with hip waders?

Do the neighbors talk?

[zxcvbob]

Tough call.  2 A.M. on the Interstate?  I think it was a good shoot.  Too much chance of a horrible accident.  If it was during the daytime with good visibility they would've had more options; it would create a traffic jam, but so what.

I'm gonna have nightmares about that sheep.

[Fly320s]

Must know more about drugged sheep.

How are they with hip waders?

Do the neighbors talk?

Don't forget cliff edges.

[Tallpine]

Well, I guess you would have to be there ...  

If you couldn't catch the horse then you're not going to get a very clean shot and now you have a wounded horse running around  

Somebody with a little experience could probably catch them or at least run them through a gate into some pasture for temporary confinement.

Fortunately the deputies in our county aren't that trigger happy.  Otherwise they'd probably be shooting fifty horses a month.

they unsuccessfully tried to get the 1,100-pound animals back over a 5-foot-high fence.

Well, or course not 

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

usually no gates on the highway side of a field

[Tallpine]

usually no gates on the highway side of a field

Around here there are, but then it is all two lane.  I never really noticed I-90 fences.

Those horses got to the interstate somehow.  I'm sure that there was more than an electric fence along the interstate.

I'm interested to know how well that really went.  Horses aren't all that easy to put down, unless you do a contact shot on the X between ears and eyes.

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

Around here there are, but then it is all two lane.  I never really noticed I-90 fences.

Those horses got to the interstate somehow.  I'm sure that there was more than an electric fence along the interstate.

I'm interested to know how well that really went.  Horses aren't all that easy to put down, unless you do a contact shot on the X between ears and eyes.

christ it would suck to do that.

[AJ Dual]

http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2010-04/taser-shocks-meth-intoxicated-sheep-dont-harm-heart-taser-study-says

Couldn't find anything about horses, but Taser tested their devices on meth-addled sheep.  Srsly.

Yeah, not so easy when the target shoots back.

[Tallpine]

christ it would suck to do that.

yeah, it does 

Horses ain't like dogs and cats.  The drugs cost $60 a bottle and it takes 2 or 3 or more on top of the vet visit.  And they don't always react well.  Some go crazy instead of just going to sleep.  Plus the stuff is bad for the environment and you have to bury them deep.  Our vet said that a gun is the best way if someone is willing to do it that way. 

[Perd Hapley]

Yeah, not so easy when the target shoots back.

Yeah, I saw the first half-hour of that movie. You are not permitted to remind me of it ever. Ever!

[Marnoot]

Yeah, I saw the first half-hour of that movie. You are not permitted to remind me of it ever. Ever!

I watched the whole thing. It became a train-wreck I could not look away from. I kept hoping it would improve, somehow. After Napoleon Dynamite and Nacho Libre, and the youtube promo segments for this one featuring Jemaine Clement I had high hopes. They were then shattered, ground-up, crapped on, and flushed down the sewer. Jared Hess will have to write one heck of a movie to atone for that abominable sin.

[TommyGunn]

Yeah, I saw the first half-hour of that movie. You are not permitted to remind me of it ever. Ever!

What was the name of the movie?  How can I avoid it if I don't know the name?!?!?   

[RoadKingLarry]

http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2010-04/taser-shocks-meth-intoxicated-sheep-dont-harm-heart-taser-study-says

Couldn't find anything about horses, but Taser tested their devices on meth-addled sheep.  Srsly.

I think "meth Addled sheep" could describe a significant percentage of the population today.

As to shooting the horses- poor choice IMO.

[BobR]

Having seen many car vs horse accidents as the receiving nurse in the ER on the rez, I have no problems with putting the horses down if they could not otherwise get them away from the highway. Of course, on the rez, as open range, it would be the vehicle owner footing the bill for that prize roping horse that got hit, instead of the horse owner being liable.

bob

[Marnoot]

What was the name of the movie?  How can I avoid it if I don't know the name?!?!?   

Gentleman Broncos

[charby]

Having seen many car vs horse accidents as the receiving nurse in the ER on the rez, I have no problems with putting the horses down if they could not otherwise get them away from the highway. Of course, on the rez, as open range, it would be the vehicle owner footing the bill for that prize roping horse that got hit, instead of the horse owner being liable.

bob

My biggest fear when hunting or fishing in WY is hitting someone's beef critter then having to pay the rancher for the animal.

[BobR]

My biggest fear when hunting or fishing in WY is hitting someone's beef critter then having to pay the rancher for the animal.

Every slow elk (cow) and horse on the rez is a prize something or another and the insurance companies often paid into the low thousands of dollars to settle. 

Our ambulance rolled out on a car vs cow accident one night and before they even got there another car had stopped and they were butchering the beef on the side of the road. We only got 4 people out of that wreck. 

bob

[MechAg94]

Every slow elk (cow) and horse on the rez is a prize something or another and the insurance companies often paid into the low thousands of dollars to settle. 

Our ambulance rolled out on a car vs cow accident one night and before they even got there another car had stopped and they were butchering the beef on the side of the road. We only got 4 people out of that wreck. 

bob

So 4 people were not butchered?  What happened to the rest?