The district attorney's office is considering charges against a Goldstream Valley man who allegedly shot and killed a neighbor's Siberian husky last month.

Alaska State Troopers conducted an investigation after receiving a report of the shooting near the Willow Run neighborhood off Goldstream Road.

Trooper Gary Telep said he could not release any details of the investigation because the case is pending, but did confirm they are investigating a complaint of animal cruelty where a dog was shot on private property but not in defense of life or private property.

He said the district attorney's office is determining if the incident conforms to the state statue of cruelty to animals of "knowingly inflicting severe and prolonged physical pain or suffering on an animal." Violation of the law is considered a misdemeanor.

The situation is complicated, Telep said, because there is also a borough ordinance that states pets must be on a leash or under voice command at all times. The dog owner was likely in violation of this ordinance since the dog had gotten away from its owner before being shot by the neighbor.

"But what some ... people have decided that if an animal wanders onto their property that they have a right to shoot the animal just because it's on their property," Telep said. "And that's a stretch."

Telep said the incident highlights a ongoing battle between dog owners and the owners of property the pets sometimes wander onto. He said the troopers receive about three reports a year of dogs being shot after getting away from their owners and onto private property.

Word of the incident has circulated on the Alaska Recreational Dog Mushers e-mail message board.

Telep said both sides can be passionate about their views on the subject. Dogs are popular in Fairbanks for sport and as pets. But some people, Telep said, also have strong feelings against dogs, having had bad experiences or having been attacked before. Encounters with loose dogs can be stressful for some people, Telep said.

"Nobody has the right to be fearful on their own property with a vicious animal," Telep said.  On the other hand, Telep said, pet owners knows that even if their dog is normally well-behaved and under control, it can occasionally get loose and naturally will want to go exploring.

"Just because this animal is a dog for a day, it doesn't deserve a death warrant because it wandered into somebody's yard," Telep said.

The trooper also worries that people in residential neighborhoods who shoot a gun to scare animals away from their property or shoot to kill the animal, risk injuring or killing a person.

"I'm not expecting you to call 911 first with a pit bull hanging on your arm," Telep said. "On the other hand, you see a dog on your lawn, how about you call animal control first?"

Telep said anyone with problems or complaints with animals on their property should call the borough animal control and local law enforcement.  "We have resources," he said. "That's the way to do it."

Update 1/24/07:  Richard Lang was charged with fourth-degree criminal mischief, a misdemeanor. His lawyer, Thomas Temple, said Lang killed 8-year-old Keesha last May as a pre-emptive strike. Previously, dogs had wandered onto Lang's property, rummaged through his trash and killed Lang's domesticated geese, Temple said.

But dog owner Stephen Kraft said the husky was wearing a muzzle when Lang shot her. Also, Lang had no geese at the time of the killing to protect.  "He was not in defense of livestock or any property," Kraft said.

A proposed settlement in the case was rejected by Judge Raymond Funk in District Court.  "This case isn't assigned to me," Funk said. "I'm not comfortable and willing to accept this plea bargain."

Funk held a hearing in the absence of another judge, District Court Judge Jane Kauvar. He referred the case back to Kauvar, and a hearing was set for Feb. 2. If Kauvar also rejects the plea agreement, Temple said his client is prepared to go to trial.

The bargain between Lang and Prosecutor Darren Watts was that Lang would plead no contest to a reduced charge of attempted criminal mischief. He agreed to six months of probation, and the conviction would be set aside if he avoided trouble during that time. Lang also agreed to pay Kraft $400 in restitution.

Kraft said the deal is too lenient.  "I don't think that getting him off in six months with no record assures that he won't do this again," Kraft said in court.  The maximum punishment under the law for fourth-degree criminal mischief is one year in jail.

Lang had previously been investigated on an accusation of shooting at least one other neighborhood dog. Temple claims his client was told by an animal control officer that he was allowed to protect his property. The officer has since left the Division of Animal Control and attempts by the attorney to reach him were unsuccessful, Temple said.

Temple said Lang has been "terrorized" by loose dogs trespassing on his property for years.  "At some point, enough was enough," the attorney said.

Kraft said that he and his fiancee, whom he declined to identify, had acquired Keesha about three years before she was killed. The couple were not in the habit of allowing Keesha to wander the neighborhood, he said. Kraft's fiancee was outside with Keesha and a newly acquired puppy when a UPS truck pulled into the driveway to make a delivery. Kraft's fiancee's attention was diverted, Kraft said.

Keesha likely wandered down a ski trail to Lang's property on Willow Run, Kraft said. The dog was wearing a muzzle to protect the puppy, also a Siberian husky.   Kraft said he had had no warning that Lang would shoot dogs that entered his property, located about 300 feet from Kraft's property.

Kraft was not told that Keesha was shot and killed until three weeks later. In the meantime, he had posted fliers around the neighborhood about his missing dog.  Kraft confronted Lang and called Alaska State Troopers after another neighbor told him that Lang had shot her dog, Kraft said.

Update 2/7/07:  Richard Lang was ordered to perform 12 hours of community work service and to pay $400 to dog owner Stephen Kraft after pleading no contest to a reduced charge of attempted criminal mischief.

The charge will be set aside after six months if Lang stays out of trouble.

Kraft remains unhappy with the settlement and said in court that he will write letters to Attorney General Talis Colberg and Congressman Don Young.  Kraft also threatened to sue Lang in civil court, saying he wants compensation for wages lost while he searched for his 8-year-old Siberian husky, Keesha. Kraft wants to be reimbursed for the expense of the search along with punitive damages, he said.  "Not until justice has been done will this be over," Kraft said.

The killing last May pitted neighbor against neighbor and drew attention from animal rights advocates nationwide.

Shortly before the hearing in the Rabinowitz Courthouse, about 10 dog lovers gathered outside with their dogs as a show of support for Kraft.  Judge Winston Burbank said that Kraft submitted a petition with hundreds of signatures asking for the maximum punishment for Lang. The judge also received 65 letters, most asking him to punish Lang to the fullest extent of the law. One letter, the judge said, recommended that Lang be executed.

"I was somewhat disgruntled by the tone of these letters," the judge said.  Burbank presided over the case after one of his colleagues, Judge Raymond Funk, said that he was troubled by the plea agreement. A second judge, Jane Kauvar, recused herself from the case, saying she did not think that she could be fair and impartial.

The shooting came after loose dogs had terrorized Lang and his family for years, according to Lang's attorney, Thomas Temple. When the husky walked into Lang's yard off No Way Lane, the landowner took precautions to protect his property, Temple said.

"People have rights, and quite frankly, animals don't," Temple said in court. "If people would keep their animals on leashes, I would submit that these types of incidents wouldn't happen."

Kraft said Keesha wandered from his nearby property after his fiancee's attention was diverted by a UPS delivery. The dog, a skijoring husky and valued pet, was wearing a muzzle.

Lang disposed of the dog's body by throwing it in a Dumpster.

Kraft learned of his dog's fate weeks later after another neighbor told him that Lang had shot at her dogs.  Kraft confronted Lang, called authorities and Lang was eventually charged with fourth-degree criminal mischief, a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail.

To avoid a trial, Lang and Prosecutor Darren Watts reached a plea agreement with Watts expressing doubts that he could convince a jury that Lang broke the law.

Burbank agreed, labeling the state's case a weak one.

The judge empathized with both Kraft and Lang saying he understood Kraft's grief for his pet and Lang's desire to protect his property.  But Burbank criticized Lang for quietly disposing of the dog in the trash.  "I just don't think a good neighbor treats other neighbors that way," the judge said. "It's this type of thing that makes living in close proximity to one another unbearable."

Reference:

Fairbanks Daily News-Miner