IndianPrincess
05-13-06, 04:15 PM
Kan. Sheriff Defends Shooting Ostrich
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20060512/D8HIGH700.html
May 12, 10:24 PM (ET)
COLBY, Kan. (AP) - A western Kansas sheriff is defending his decision to order a deputy to kill an ostrich that had wandered onto Interstate 70 near Colby, despite protests from a truck driver who called the shooting "inhumane and senseless."
Thomas County Sheriff Mike Baughn said he ordered a deputy to shoot the 6-foot-tall exotic bird Thursday morning because it presented a hazard to passing motorists.
"It's like anything else on I-70," he said. "Once you take the legs out from under it, it becomes a missile."
Baughn said he doesn't know where it came from because owners rarely register the birds.
He said it's the first ostrich his office has destroyed, although it has killed about 10 emus over the past decade.
What Baughn called a matter of public safety has drawn criticism, though, from a Salina truck driver who witnessed the shooting.
Dennis Espinosa was driving by when he saw the bird spread its wings and the deputy pull the trigger on a 12-gauge shotgun.
"I think the deputy ought to be reprimanded," Espinosa said. "In my opinion, that was not just a chicken or a small bird. It was somebody's big bird."
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http://apnews.myway.com/article/20060512/D8HIGH700.html
May 12, 10:24 PM (ET)
COLBY, Kan. (AP) - A western Kansas sheriff is defending his decision to order a deputy to kill an ostrich that had wandered onto Interstate 70 near Colby, despite protests from a truck driver who called the shooting "inhumane and senseless."
Thomas County Sheriff Mike Baughn said he ordered a deputy to shoot the 6-foot-tall exotic bird Thursday morning because it presented a hazard to passing motorists.
"It's like anything else on I-70," he said. "Once you take the legs out from under it, it becomes a missile."
Baughn said he doesn't know where it came from because owners rarely register the birds.
He said it's the first ostrich his office has destroyed, although it has killed about 10 emus over the past decade.
What Baughn called a matter of public safety has drawn criticism, though, from a Salina truck driver who witnessed the shooting.
Dennis Espinosa was driving by when he saw the bird spread its wings and the deputy pull the trigger on a 12-gauge shotgun.
"I think the deputy ought to be reprimanded," Espinosa said. "In my opinion, that was not just a chicken or a small bird. It was somebody's big bird."
:down: