Pit bulls shot, killed after cornering calves in pen

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The Davison County Sheriff’s Office responded to an incident Thursday in which a police officer residing near Mitchell shot at four pit bulls that cornered several of the officer’s calves in their pen.

Two of the dogs were killed, one was injured and one escaped.

Davison County Sheriff David Miles said one of his deputies responded to the incident around 6 p.m.

Miles said the owner of the calves was within his rights to fire at the dogs. Miles did not release the shooter’s name, but The Daily Republic confirmed it was John Badker, a Mitchell police officer.

State law permits the killing of any dog found “chasing, worrying, injuring, or killing poultry or domestic animals” unless the dog is on its owner’s property.

“It happens occasionally,” Miles said of incidents like the one Thursday. “It doesn’t happen often, but it does happen.”

The law also makes any owner of a dog found disturbing domestic animals liable for any damage the dog causes, and he or she could be guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by 30 days in jail and a $500 fine.

Miles declined to divulge the names of the dog owners, saying the incident is still under investigation.

Clyde Connell, who lives on his farm about 15 miles north of Mitchell, was not involved in Thursday’s incident but said he has had a problem with vicious dogs coming on his property for years.

“I just think that dogs shouldn’t be running,” he said.

Connell said in past years, some of his neighbors’ dogs have killed chickens and pheasants on his property, and bit his step-child in the face.

He added that he asked his neighbors to contain their dogs and fired warning shots in an attempt to scare the dogs off before he resorted to shooting at them.

Connell was sympathetic with the property-owner in Thursday’s incident.

“If those pit bulls had shown up in my yard, I would have shot them, too,” he said.

Tags: animal control, news, updates, pitbulls, local, mitchell, animals