Ethical Decisions-To kill or not to kill?

hardknock96

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I have a very off the wall question for this forum. I assume many of the individuals on this site deal with more personal, nonviolent ethical decisions(drugs, alcohol) on average. I would ask would taking life under the right circumstances have any backlash?

Yesterday a stray pit almost killed my dog when it came onto my porch. I was on the other side of the house when this happened. I got there and was about to stab the attacking dog to death but my parents sent me back in side before securing the dog. The reasons my parents stated for not letting me into the fight was that they believed I could lose my AROTC Scholarship if I killed this dog. Fortunately, the fight got broken up and my dog lived. I would like to know what would happen if I intervened so morbidly?

FYI: I would have had no problem fighting or killing this animal in defense of my household; it may have lead to injury but that means very little to me. The question I have is if I did kill the dog would cadet command, a service academy, civilian court or the military take any legal action for the death of this animal under a similar circumstance?
 
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It would depend if criminal charges were filed and if you were convicted. Based on my limited legal background, the fact that the dog was on your property and your dog was being attacked(and had the wounds to prove it) I really doubt any judge would convict you of anything so you would've been fine.
 
I would ask would taking life under the right circumstances have any backlash?

Question of the millenium :)

The dog (as you knew it) was a stray, and as far as I know neither the government nor previous owner (if any) is responsible for a stray.

I think you could've killed it and nothing would have happened (like the previous commenter stated).

Now if it was a man who was attacking your dog on your property and you killed the man I think things would turn out a little different, although I am sort of unsure what a viable verdict would be.
 
Just to add, if the stray was a domesticated dog that was just lost or far from home then I believe PupNSuds is on point.
 
It's not illegal to kill a dog on your property wether it's attacking you or not. Of course you shouldn't just kill a dog that's on your property but you had nothing to worry about,


2019 WestPoint class appointee

Recipient of 4 year army rotc scholarship.
 
First, there are laws about the treatment of animals (yes, on your property or not). There are a few Marines who are no longer Marines for filming themselves throwing dogs off of a cliff.

Second, drugs and alcohol are less ethical discussions and more legal discussions.

Third, it's good to remember it's very easy to screw up in high school and lose an appointment. I'm interested in the fact that your parents didn't have to stab a dog to death to get this to stop, but you felt you needed to.

Settle down. SETTLE DOWN.
 
Despite the title of the thread, I see nothing in your tale which pertains to an ethical dilemma. Fortunately for you, your parents interfered with your impulse to go mano a cano. You very well could have found yourself in the emergency room trying to get your lips and cheeks reattached to your face.

If your scholarship was indeed the first thing that came to their mind, they have some worrisome years ahead of them. They have my sympathy, though: I was never entirely comfortable until my son received his commission.

By the way, how did the dog fight get broken up? The passive tense deflated what was a pretty good narrative. How is your dog? Finally, I'm always interested in seeing the English language expanded, and your use of "morbidly" is a new one.
 
I'm just curious as to why your reaction was to grab a knife and not yell at the dog or try and scare it off. I guess emotional reactions come fast


2019 WestPoint class appointee

Recipient of 4 year army rotc scholarship.
 
I guess it would have been bad for me to intervene. From what I hear people can throw a fit over the death of animals (people came to the sounds of the struggle); with todays society I wouldn't be surprised if the suit was civil, not criminal in nature. Under, the circumstances though I would find that I could have really had no negative consequences, if I was in the thick of it. I talked to a cop who came to the scene and he said given the repeat offense nature of the pit(4x offender) and the physical damage done, I could have killed the dog even after the struggle. Our society will surely be past saving, If I got in trouble for that.

To civic29 I would say sometimes I just had to react (those dogs especially don't listen come to think of it) at the time I thought it was a lot worse than expected; I heard screaming and I came running. My father broke up the fight by 10+ whacks with a broom handle and the help of a next door neighbor who was literally feet away when it started. My dog lost a few pints of blood and is doing good after some intense treatment. For the situation that occurred I am glad I didn't intervene. Though, if that dog ended up attacking my younger brother or killing my dog the police would have had a big mass of canine to cleanup. EDelahanty, I could've definetly been injured(I would have been a schmuck to let that thing near my face) but that dog would have ended up seriously maimed or dead(I hear they like scars in the military). All that matters is my family is safe but just for future occurrences I have an idea what I will do when TSHTF. Thanks for your input.
 
Pit bulls are unpredictable, everyone always says "if you raise them right..." or "If you get them young" then you don't have to worry but yet they still attack simply because fighting is what they are bred to do. Then comes the Pitt patrol who says "my little ____ wouldn't hurt a fly" regardless of the fact that these animals are known to turn on their owners or others no matter how lovingly they where raised. I wish people would just go with a golden retriever and leave old "spike" the Pitt bull to the junk yard. Attacking 4 times seems too much, I know in some states 2 or 3 incidents end up with the dog being put down by order. It's just nice to see that everything turned out alright for you. At least now you know you have a fighting spirit!


2019 WestPoint class appointee

Recipient of 4 year army rotc scholarship.
 
Indeed pit bulls are not to be trusted. They were originally used by Greek farmers to go to war; unless you regularly get into physical combat there is little use for them. There is no argument when all branches of the military ban their posession and use as guard dogs. Where I live they use them to hunt wild boar and protect meth labs. Also my dog is a golden lab(he is a good watch-dog,a bad guard-dog and one of the sweetest creatures I've ever known)
 
Sorry but any dog can turn on it's owner. Hell my ex-wife had a little chihuahua that was food aggressive and one time I went to take a bone away that it was going to choke on and it jumped up to bite me. Granted even if the dog got a hold of me it wouldn't have done much damage because of the breed.

That aside yes most Pits are bred for fighting but not all, and just like any dog breed aggression can be bred in. I'm partial to labs and I can guarantee you I could breed in and teach aggression to the point of it attacking every little kid in the neighborhood. If I'm stupid enough to do that should all labs be labeled that way because of what I did? If your dog attacked 4 people should it get a pass because it's a lab and not a pit? I just see a slippery slope is all.
 
I once had to save a miniature schnauzer from a German shepherd. I was in middle school, walking home from the bus stop. I had my trumpet in hand. The schnauzer's name was Millie and she was my friend's dog. Across the street and down a little ways was the German shepherd's home. The German shepherd was Lucy I think. Both dogs were very sweet. Apparently the two breeds aren't the best of friends. Lucy got out of her invisible fence ran after Millie, grabbed her by the back and flipped her in the air. At first, before the flip, I thought they might be playing, but after the flip, I ran up to them and hit Lucy as hard as I could with by trumpet case, knocking her off of Millie (and really scaring her). Lucy ran back to her yard and Millie ran home.

Not all dogs like each other. My dad's boxer was attacked while he was running with her. The culprits, a Asian bread (blanking on it, not a chow, bigger, but mean) and maybe a lab or something…. they were in "pack" mode.

And on the other side of that, my parents' dogs are very territorial now, not of humans, but of other dogs. The English bulldog and Boston terrier will go after any dog that enters the property and the bulldog means to do damage.

As far as stabbing a dog goes, if you become the threat to its life, expect it to turn on you, and don't underestimate the damage it can do in a very very short time… especially dogs with very strong jaws.
 
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