Require Police Be Trained in Proper Animal Handling While On Calls

Please sign and share this petition on all media sites as we encourage the Texas Commission to make it mandatory that all police officers be trained on how to handle animals, especially dogs, when out on calls. Too often, innocent dogs are shot and killed as a means of controlling an animal when police or summoned for one disturbance or another. Too often, the first reaction by a cop is to shoot a dog first and ask questions later.

There is an on-going issue of police being called out on a situation where they encounter a dog and unnecessarily shot the animal rather than resorting to more humane methods that could save the life of someone’s pet. We are working to support animal rights activists in Texas inn requiring police officers to undergo mandatory training on non-lethal animal control. An event is engaged, known as “Stronger Laws for Paws” that calls for action to be taken against officers involved in these types of unwarranted shootings.

We are working to ask to ask the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement to implement a strict law that makes it mandatory for every and all law enforcement personnel to take mandatory training on humane and non-lethal methods of animal control when out on a call. Dogs are considered family members for most people but police often times just shoot an animal they “suspect” could be a threat when there are often other ways to safely control the dog. With proper training, cops would know what to look for in an aggressive animal and how to handle a situation without shooting to kill.

We are asking for your help through this petition so that officers will be required to go through some extensive training in handling and caring for animals they encounter through humane methods that will not endanger someone’s pet.