I think I had an opportunity last fall, but it had been so long since they had killed my cat I couldn't be absolutely sure they were the ones, it had been almost 4.5 years since it had happened at the time. I would have hated to be wrong. Yeah, I feel there's more to the story than WRAL knows about.

“Had I found them in my neighbors yard, yes I would have shot them dead not caring if the neighbors were there or not” – samdutes

I'd kill those dogs too. In cases like this, you need to kill the dogs at some later point in time, when they’re off the owner’s property. If they’re roaming around, you’ll eventually get them.

But I get your point. Maybe this dog did something we the readers don’t know about.

Ok, I don't agree with someone shooting a dog in someone's backyard for no reason, but here's a personal story.....about 5 years ago a couple of dogs came onto MY property and killed MY cat, they basically shook it to death separating it's skin from the muscle, I started looking for the dogs, saw the direction they left MY property. Had I found them in my neighbors yard, yes I would have shot them dead not caring if the neighbors were there or not.....the only thing that would have kept me from shooting the dogs would be if I could have possibly have hit the owners. Anyway, don't know the reason the dog was shot, but I do know personally there were two dogs in my neighborhood had I found them they wouldn't be here now.....had my cat been off of my property and this happened I would have reacted differently but it happened on MY property.......fwiw.

“It is ridiculous that shooting a dog is a felony. I can see that torture and abuse is a felony, like the woman that starved her dog, but shooting a dog/cat is humane.” - immaannoid

Perhaps, but shooting onto another person’s property, and killing their pet while it’s on their property, should be a serious enough offense to garner a felony charge.

I do not have a dog in this fight, but I do wish the government would leave my gun alone and lets get rid of animals.