Amanda Warren

Activist Post

Nala was a 7-year-old Shar Pei who got loose from her owner, Sarah Gossard, last Saturday. Sandra Fleichser found the frightened, thirsty, hungry canine. Sandra blames herself for reaching out to Nala with her hand, as Nala bit it (Sandra is fine).

Sandra called in to report the dog in Southeast Baltimore, Maryland and was relieved when police arrived.

Until she saw what happened next.

Officers were using the type of force often seen when apprehending a criminal. The dog cried out as they held her with the noose pole and one of them used his knee to pin her down with his weight on her chest as he tightened the noose. This happened “relentlessly.”

While Nala was secure in the noose and pinned down, that’s when officer Jeffrey Bolger came up and slit her throat. Before committing this act he called out: “I am going to f–king gut this thing!“

Nala died. The officer was suspended without pay, is charged with aggravated animal cruelty (felony) and was arrested, but released on his own recognizance.

Owner Sarah Gossard had also reported Nala missing on Saturday, but wasn’t even told what happened until Wednesday. She had to find out about it on the news! You can read more about her response here and here. Notably, her dog had a collar with tags and phone number to reach her if the dog were found lost.

It’s instances like these where you will see police chiefs and departments distance themselves from an officer and the incident – but only if deemed a truly heinous act.







Baltimore Police Deputy Commissioner Dean Palmere said:

One of our officers used a knife and cut the dog’s throat. This is outrageous and an unacceptable breach of our protocol.

Police spokesman Eric Kowalczy said:

It was a complete violation of protocol. It’s not often police speak out against one of their own, but we are all truly appalled.

He’s right – it’s not often at all. But how is this killing entirely different than senselessly shooting pet dogs? Why is shooting not a “complete violation of protocol”? Or is that the protocol? A clean head shot, but please don’t become a butcher.

What officer Bolger said does add undeniable proof as to the nature of the killing act. I guess it isn’t as apparent when officers stoically shoot dogs. But it really doesn’t matter – it’s the same act either way.

I write this article to scratch at the surface of a logical fallacy floating around on the Internet about police-dog-killings. That it’s the owner’s fault. Always the owner’s fault. If they had their dog locked up and inside this wouldn’t have happened.

Wrong…wrong on so many levels.

How could the owner ever be responsible for a gruesome event like this? Most people assume that when your dog escapes, you can rely on animal control and/or the police department to retrieve it if they should find it – without incident. For decades now, dogs have gotten loose and that has been the appropriate action.

When someone uses his free will to take a knife to a dog like this or brags “Awesome” after blowing it away with a shotgun – the very first thing people should question is that person’s mental faculty. That’s cold-blooded violence, not self-defense, especially when the attack comes from the aggressor (not the pup). Notice I said someone, not a cop. Because it shouldn’t matter what station that person resides in. For some reason, it’s more gruesome or insane if a neighbor were to kill an animal in this way – when a cop does it, the majority of the time it is sanctioned. Then news anchors and readers debate about nuances and whether the force was justified.

Every murder case could be thrown out with the killer set free based on that fallacy of blaming the owner – which I think is why it cropped up in regards to police killing animals. Most people would consider it cruel to say to a victim or the victim’s family: If only [victim] had been locked up and never left the house, this wouldn’t have happened.

No, in this example, it would be the criminal aggressor that they wish would be locked up.

That brings us to another facet of the fallacy:

Assailants break into houses…

Animal control (often a part of police departments) have been used for decades to help with stray animals or dogs getting loose – it’s a service. All without much incident until the last few years. Why now? And why would it suddenly now be the owner’s fault?

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