He had the right to kill dogs, says shooter

Friday June 26, 2009

By Vivian Belik

Submitted Photo/Yukon News

Deadchickens
Some of the chickens that were killed by Kirsten Vetrie’s dogs.

John and Dee Teertstra, the Tagish residents who shot their neighbour’s dogs, say they had a right to do so.

Two weeks ago, the Teertstra’s chickens were killed when Kirsten Vetrie’s dogs got out of her yard and broke into her neighbour’s chicken coop.

When John discovered his neighbour’s dogs in his chicken run he grabbed a shotgun and killed the dogs.

“I think people have a right to defend their property,” said John.

John shot both dogs in his yard and then went to Vetrie’s house to let her know what he had done, he said.

He did not appear at the door with a shotgun, as was reported in Wednesday’s paper.

It was the second time that Vetrie’s dogs, Dakota and Bella, found their way into the Teertstra’s chicken coop.

In November, the dogs killed 10 laying hens and three turkeys, said Dee.

The Teertstras never told Vetrie what had happened.

Days later, a friend of the Teertstra’s spoke to Vetrie instead.

“I said to my friend, ‘If those dogs come back again, they will get shot’,” said Dee.

But because the Teertstras didn’t speak to Vetrie themselves, they’re not sure if the warning was ever relayed.

They were hoping that Vetrie would end up hearing about the incident and approach them instead.

“If your dog killed (your neighbours’) chickens wouldn’t you apologize?” said John.

“Those people should have come over in the fall, paid us for what (their dogs) killed and kept their dogs on a chain!”

Two weeks ago, when the dogs got into the chicken coop, they killed 29 chickens and five turkeys, said Dee. The Teertstras say their chickens and turkeys were worth thousands.

“(Vetrie) doesn’t have a clue how much it costs,” said Dee.

“There’s the money to purchase the chickens and then also the time to care for them and the lost income from egg sales.”

She thinks destroying Vetrie’s dogs was fair.

“If you have dogs marauding your livestock you should have the right to shoot them,” said Dee.

“I’ve heard of dogs being shot for less than that on people’s property.

“Of course we figured that they weren’t going to be happy, but you’ve got to bite the bullet.”

According to the territorial Dog Act, a person may kill a dog that is running at large in the act of pursuing or destroying livestock.

John wasn’t even aware of the Dog Act when he set out to shoot Vetrie’s dogs, he said.

The RCMP investigating the case say there are several intersecting laws at work and will be looking at the Wildlife Act and the Criminal Code to see if John is guilty of irresponsible gun use.

Tagish isn’t specifically zoned as a residential area, but John says the lots in his Tagish subdivision are about 30 metres wide. He can see his neighbours’ houses from his property.

Nonetheless, he said shooting off a gun in an area surrounded by homes shouldn’t have been an issue.

“I don’t have a problem with that. I’ve been handling weapons for 40 years,” said John.

“The (shot) doesn’t go beyond 50 yards ... It’s not as though I was shooting off a magnum. I chose the weapon for the job.”

Although the RCMP are investigating John under the Wildlife Act, a charge like that wouldn’t stick, said Tony Grabowski, manager of conservation enforcement and compliance for the Yukon.

“I don’t know how (the RCMP) would look into it because the wildlife act doesn’t apply in that situation,” said Grabowski.

“It only applies when you’re hunting. So if an individual killed some dogs, which are domestic, then it’s not considered hunting.”

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Bookmark and Share 28 Comments

12:58pm 07/16/09  |  empty_paranoia13 wrote:

in fact you have had trouble with a husky dog getting into your run BEFORE Dakota and Bella. Dogs are canines, like wolves, foxes, coyotes, they are born with a NATURAL instinct. The killer, John Teertstra could have used communication as a means to solve the problem instead of handling the situation with such an act of violence. An eye for an eye is only fair if there is a period of grace and fair warning. Where was Kirstin’s grace and fair warning when the killer has never spoke to her.

8:31am 07/16/09  |  yukoner44 wrote:

ok this has gone wayyy too far iam a yukoner at heart never had trouble when i live in whitehorse or dawson city..sure people animals might have gotten out of hand we did something about it.. not killing them…
theses post have got to stop or bring the law somewhere

10:57pm 07/15/09  |  chickendee wrote:

Your dog was a determined killer who worked a wired shut gate open and squeezed through a tiny whole to get at her prey. I have had my chicken run for 20 years and never had anything get in it before. If you had taken care of the killer the first time your other dog probably would have still been alive but it was learning to be a killer too. You KNOW that you KNEW your dog was a killer last fall and you did nothing about it.

10:34pm 07/15/09  |  chickendee wrote:

Well now you know how I have been feeling since November when I had to deal with my dead and dying birds that had been torn apart and were still alive. I’ve had my share of nightmares,too and for a lot longer. It’s amazing how your dogs kept getting away from you. Maybe you should have built a stronger pen for YOUR dogs! My birds did not come to your place and attack your dogs.

5:11pm 07/15/09  |  empty_paranoia13 wrote:

john did not bring both dogs over to the yard, Dakota was lying on the side of the road when we found her covered in her own blood from a gun shot wound in her neck, she was barely alive, we picked her up ourselves. he brought Bella over in his truck, he threw her out of the back as though she was just a piece of trash. also because of the violence towards the dogs i suffer many sleepless nights and am now experiencing other health problems because of the shock my body went through that evening.

2:18pm 07/15/09  |  empty_paranoia13 wrote:

Kirstin was not an irresponsible dog owner and every time the dogs were off the property she was out looking for them and they were kept on a chain anytime they were outside by themselves. we were looking for them that night when he shot them. the dogs were not dangerous killers. how about building better runs for the chickens?

11:45pm 07/09/09  |  MacMacGuinty wrote:

“We did not have a chance to tell our story the first time-They went ahead and published that disgusting article without even trying to contact us”

You did not bother to contact the dog owner after the first incident, instead relying on a friend to maybe let her know that her dogs would be shot next time.
SO, don’t say that anybody should have contacted you for anything because that’s YOUR tactic as well.

You reap what you sow in this world.

8:32pm 07/04/09  |  yukonlily wrote:

I can’t believe you guys are still talking about this! Spend some time thinking about feeding the children. What’s done is done! Get a grip and get over it.

5:58pm 07/04/09  |  Karma wrote:

I run into allot of loose dogs in my travels and have never thought I was in danger.People in the Yukon have their dogs blessed by priests. Chickens are welcome too I’d guess. How people view their pets has changed allot over the years. To just drop off Dakota and Bellas blood soaked bodies after killing them was so insensitive and cruel.

8:45am 07/04/09  |  sundog wrote:

This household fully supports the Teertstra’s actions to protect their property and income. Bottomline: the dogs were out of the owner’s control and were a danger on the loose. In a farming community this would not even be an issue - uncontrolled dogs are a menace to livestock. This would be an entirely different issue if, for example, a child was injured or even a moose or caribou calf were destroyed.

8:42pm 07/01/09  |  JRogAK wrote:

YukonAnn, The AK actually stands for Alaska, so don’t blame me for your poop problems….just sayin’

4:54pm 07/01/09  |  YukonAnn wrote:

You love letting your dog(s) run loose in Whitehorse JRogAK ? You do know there is a leash law ? You do know that your dog cannot roam free even in your own yard unless it is fenced in? I don’t own dogs but I sure pick up enough dog crap to own 10 of them . I am tired of law breaking dog owners.
I still say the woman should have the dogs put down as they now know the taste of blood and they will attack anything now. Poor dogs my butt.

10:25pm 06/30/09  |  chickendee wrote:

Once again the Yukon News has misrepresented us. Read my letter to the editor in an upcoming issue (if they at least have the decency to print it) before passing judgment. We did not have a chance to tell our story the first time-They went ahead and published that disgusting article without even trying to contact us. Kirsten’s dogs were dangerous killers that were allowed to run free.  John probably saved countless small animals lives by doing what he did.

5:01am 06/30/09  |  yukonlily wrote:

I raised chickens and turkey’s for almost 20 years, outside of Dawson. Yours must have been filled with gold, to be worth that much!
I would have been furious if dogs killed mine, but I would have had the jam to tell the dogs owners to their faces.

1:28pm 06/29/09  |  Karma wrote:

From what the it says it sounds like the dogs got out of a yard and were not left to run free.To me it sounds like a poorly made pen on both sides.Both the chicken pen and dog yard must be poorly constructed.No shift of blame here just to bad the ones capable of compassion chose to kill.

11:46am 06/29/09  |  YTPaul wrote:

Part of living in a community is also resepcting your neighbours, and letting your dogs run amok is basically flipping your neighbours the bird. Quit trying to shift the blame to the owner of the chickens.
Keep you animals secured, or accept the consequences.

10:21am 06/29/09  |  Meesha wrote:

Taku
The chickens died because of a careless dog owner, the dogs died because of a GUY with a GUN - big difference.  You say go back to Toronto - to my knowledge people in small places are more likely to know and talk to their neighbours than anybody in the city (many in the city don’t even know their neighbours).  If there had been neighbourly communication here there would have been a far different ending to this story.

8:10am 06/29/09  |  Karma wrote:

Before resorting to killing peoples pets a good neighbor could at least tell them face to face what will happen if their dogs come by again. Communication is always the wise path for a successful community. Dogs are crafty critters and can escape on you here and there. We shouldn’t have to live in fear of losing them to our neighbor’s shotgun coyotes and wolves are bad enough

7:24am 06/29/09  |  web manager wrote:

EDITORIAL NOTE:

The spelling of Teertstra’s name has been corrected. The Yukon News apologizes for the error.

7:16am 06/27/09  |  taku wrote:

the dogs and the chickens died as a result of the irresponsibility of the the dog owner.  Small children playing in someone’s yard could have been attacked by these dogs.  With respect to ” backwoods”, people with that kind of attitude should move to Toronto and stay there.

3:09am 06/27/09  |  YukonAnn wrote:

The woman should be fined for letting her dogs run loose. I also am sick of dogs running loose ,but I live in Whitehorse. There is a leash law ,but yet you see owners carrying the leash while the dog roams free. In Porter Creek there are dogs loose ,dropping feces all over other peoples property and it gets really annoying to see a beautiful plant get urinated on. People who violate the dog bylaws should have their dogs put down.

8:47pm 06/26/09  |  JRogAK wrote:

I love letting my dogs loose, but I never let them out of my sight. This man had every right to do what he needed to. If you truly love your dog, tie it up.

7:05pm 06/26/09  |  Dog lover wrote:

I agree Meesha, how could John (or Kirsten) possibly have known that the guilty dogs were if fact the ones in the pen actually caught in the act. Get a grip, Kirsten’s dogs are often seen running at large. The animals have suffered because of their own “owner neglect”. I agree that Kirsten’s actions of not keeping her dogs at home is disgusting!
A neighbour in Tagish

5:32pm 06/26/09  |  gurf wrote:

Oh but i guess you couldn’t appeiciate an animal like a chicken… yeah dogs are really the important thing yet you dont realize that other people are different, such as my mother you didn’t mention how it made her feel to lose her chickens not to mention the fact that we get fresh eggs for the nabours. Yeah Vivian you really nailed it again… maybe try getting your facts straight. You fail as a reporter.

5:29pm 06/26/09  |  gurf wrote:

Wow thanks Vivian make are family out to be the bad guys by printing yet another b.s. article. First you spell are last name way wrong then you fail to add parts of the story and you add b.s comments that we didn’t even say. You mentions we have the right to protect are property but failed to mention the fact that we were protecting are livestock which was the important thing.

4:02pm 06/26/09  |  yukoner44 wrote:

sick that the yukon people can’t get along anywhere
wake up and talk…

2:20pm 06/26/09  |  YTPaul wrote:

” It’s the animals that suffer because of human action - disgusting!”
You are absolutely 100% correct, both the Poultry AND the dogs suffered as a direct result of the dog owners negligence.
Would this have happened if the dog owner had been responsible, ensuring her animals were restrained to her property?  No, it would not have happened.  What if it had been a child getting attacked by the two dogs.  Go talk to the owner?
If thats too back woods for you, well, you know where the highway is.

1:43pm 06/26/09  |  Meesha wrote:

At least have the guts to go and talk to the neighbour yourself - don’t depend on someone else to do it for you or “hoping they would end up hearing about it”.  How is the owner supposed to know for sure that is was her dogs that did it?  How is she supposed to know that she should compensate you if you don’t go directly and talk to her?  Ever hear of comnmunication?  It’s the animals that suffer because of human action - disgusting!

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