WTFH!? Merced, CA; Police Policy Of Taking Injured Animals To Shooting Range Comes Under Fire

MERCED (CBS13) — Animal lovers are questioning a policy where Merced Police officers take injured animals out to the police shooting range to kill them.

The penal code has been on the books for decades. Some officers say it’s the most humane thing you can do, while others call it barbaric.

Officers use deadly force to save the lives of others, but what about shooting severely injured dogs or cats found on the street?

According to a California penal code, it’s an officer’s discretion, saying in part:

“…any officer… may, with the approval of his or her immediate superior, humanely destroy any abandoned animal in the field in any case where the animal is too severely injured to move or where a veterinarian is not available and it would be more humane to dispose of the animal.”

“No one wants to see an animal lose its life, but if death is inevitable, and it’s just being prolonged,” said Sacramento County Sgt. Jason Ramos.

He says the sheriff’s department doesn’t have a specific policy for shooting injured animals, but his agency understands why an officer may be forced to.

Erudite Hillbilly 

• 3 hours ago

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Its just a way for them to desensitize so they have no qualms turning their guns on citizens. Right up there with those pregnant woman, children, and senior citizen targets they use. Face it, they are just killers. You are 8 times more likely to die at the hands of the cop than in a terrorist attack.