Dispute over dead dogs, goats in Rock Rapids, Iowa, won't lead to charges
IOWA -- Amy Fluit and her family were having a hard time Tuesday believing their neighbor shot their three Saint Bernards instead of calling to tell them the dogs were eating one of his prize goats.
Neither the Fluits nor the neighbor, Mike Bus, face charges in the incident, Lyon County Sheriff Stewart Vander Stoep said.
Bus did not break any laws when he shot the dogs because they presented a threat to his property, the sheriff said. There's also no local ordinance against dogs roaming free.
Bus declined to comment on the incident, directing all questions to his attorney, Randy Waagmeester, of Rock Rapids. Waagmeester was not immediately available Tuesday to discuss the matter.
A sheriff's office news release said Bus shot the dogs, two females and one male ranging in age from 18 months to 6 years, after he found them Sunday eating the goat in its pen. The day before, he had discovered another of his show goats had been killed by a dog, the release said.
The goats were valued at about $300 each, and the Bus family intended on showing both animals competitively at the Lyon County Fair, the release said.
Fluit said the two families have known each other for years and that Bus knew the dogs were theirs.
"The younger ones don't quite get it," Fluit said. "And it hasn't completely sunk in yet because we haven't been home since it happened."
Vander Stoep said Bus was well within his rights to shoot the dogs because Iowa law allows property owners to shoot dogs if the animals are threatening them, their family or their livestock.
"We have made no arrests, and we intend to make no arrests," Vander Stoep said.
Regardless, Fluit says she won't be satisfied until she knows why her dogs are dead. She said she has asked for photos and more information from the sheriff's office.
"I want answers," said Fluit. "They were my pets and my family, any decent human being would have just called. I'm not letting it go."
(Sioux City Journal - July 10, 2013)
