2 dogs that were ‘lost and needed help’ fatally shot on property of North Texas megachurch
Two dogs who wandered away from their North Texas home in early July were fatally shot on the property of a megachurch about 20 miles northwest of Fort Worth, according to family and friends.
Hershey and Bella, two Labrador retrievers, were reported missing on July 8. After a frantic search by their owners, including posts on Nextdoor and a lost pet website, the couple learned their dogs were dead.
According to Sylvia Clark, a family member of the owners, the dogs were shot by a security guard on the property of Eagle Mountain International Church. Both dogs were wearing their collars, and it should’ve been obvious they were pets, Clark said told the Star-Telegram in a July 18 phone interview.
Hershey, a male chocolate lab, belonged to Clark for the first 10 weeks of his life. She described him as “the sweetest” dog, and said that personal connection makes his death particularly hard for her.
“These are labs,” Clark said of the dogs’ typical behavior. “You say hi to them, they want to lick you, they want to play with you.”
Hershey and Bella’s owner said in a public Facebook post that the justification given for shooting the dogs was that the white lab allegedly growled, and security personnel “felt the dog was aggressive.”
“My dogs were lost and needed help and were hungry,” the owner posted, adding that the two labs had never been aggressive.
Eagle Mountain International Church, founded in 1986 by evangelist Kenneth Copeland, sits on 33 acres in the Eagle Mountain Lake area. The church didn’t respond to the Star-Telegram’s request for comment via phone and email.
Mitch Monthie, a criminal defense attorney with Varghese Summersett, said dogs in Texas are considered personal property, but they do have certain protections under the law.
“The reality is, dogs are our fuzzy friends,” Monthie said. “They’re our companions, they’re family members to a lot of people. And so anytime something happens to a dog, a lot of times people are looking at it through that lens.”
Fort Worth animal rights attorney Randy Turner said a variety of acts that are considered animal cruelty can range from a Class A misdemeanor to a second-degree felony. Abandonment, animal torture, confining an animal in a cruel manner or killing an animal without the owner’s permission are all crimes in Texas.
Killing or causing serious bodily injury to a non-livestock animal, such as a dog, without the owner’s consent can be a third-degree felony in Texas. It’s punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
The fact that the dogs were on church property when they were shot is irrelevant, according to Turner.
“It doesn’t matter if the animal wanders onto your property — you can’t kill someone’s animal without their permission,” Turner said. “Unless you know, you’re defending yourself, or you’re defending another person or you’re defending your livestock.”
The self-defense part of the law tends to be a gray area, according to Monthie, and requires that the defendant prove their actions were reasonable and necessary. In a court setting, people often disagree about what constitutes reasonable and necessary, Monthie said.
In the case of Hershey and Bella, the labs who were shot, Clark said she understands the owners opted to work things out with the church instead of filing a police report.
If the case were to be investigated, Monthie said, he would want to know how close the dogs were and whether or not the security personnel tried to shoo them away from the area before shooting. Also, were both dogs demonstrating signs of aggression or just one?
“In my opinion, there has to be an ... escalation, and not just a growl,” Monthie said. “So I would want to know, what the dogs were doing, where they were at, how long they were ... seen on property and what they were seen doing, and how much time had passed before the person came to the conclusion that they had to take that action.”
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