By B.J. Williams Editor
Phantom is the 2-year-old male
dog shot and killed Monday by Toccoa police
TOCCOA - A Lavonia woman who is
a part-owner of one of the dogs shot and killed by Toccoa police on Monday said
the shooting of the animals was uncalled for.
Cindy Smith said in an
interview Thursday the two dogs - who were pit bulls - were gentle animals. She
and her husband breed pit bulls, and have done so for about 15 years, and she
said the young dogs killed Monday were two that she had raised from pups.
She believes the only reason
Phantom, the male dog, and Tsunami, the female, attacked a neighbor's dog was
because the smaller animal came onto an enclosed front porch where the pit
bulls lived. Smith said she knows the dogs were in a secured area at the time
of the incident.
"Their front porch has a
railing around it as well as a gate on the front porch that has to be opened
from the inside," said Smith. "The neighbor's dog, who was not
contained - and he does not have a fence - his dog wandered onto their property
onto the porch...and it was eating their dogs' food."
Thus, said Smith, the two pit
bulls protected their property.
Smith said when her friend,
whom she chose not to name, arrived home for lunch, Toccoa police had already
shot and killed both dogs. Smith said she thinks the officers overreacted.
"They [the police] should
have sat in their car because the dogs were on their property. They should have
waited until the owners got home to take care of the matter instead of shooting
the dogs."
Toccoa Police Chief Tim Jarrell
said in a statement that the officers fired on the two dogs when the animals
failed to respond to voice commands to stop attacking the smaller dog. He said
the officers reported the two animals charged at them. (See link to earlier
story below.)
The owners of Phantom and
Tsunami face several charges from animal control officers, and Smith said she
doesn't feel that's fair, especially since the owner of the smaller dog that
wandered onto the porch faces no charges for his pet roaming free.
"I feel like they [police]
shot because of what they are [pit bulls]," said Smith. "If it had
been a lab or a retriever or any other kind of breed, I think they would have
done anything in their power to not have to shoot the animals."
Smith said she isn't sure if
her friends will try to register any kind of complaint against the Toccoa
Police Department, but she said her goal in speaking out was simply to tell the
other side of the story. She said if her friends do wind up going to court, she
plans to organize a rally to support them.
"If and when they have a
court date, if these charges do not get dropped...I'm hoping to get enough
people to come to the courthouse with their pit bulls to do kind of like a
peaceful protest to raise awareness that these dogs are being portrayed as
something they're not."