A petition on www.change.org had gathered 31,056 supporters as of noon March 24 calling upon San Diego Police Department and police nationwide to receive training on how to handle dogs in the wake of an incident in Pacific Beach Sunday, March 22 when an officer shot and killed a pitbull he feared was attacking him.
The incident occurred just before 5:30 a.m. at a residence on Felspar and Bayard streets when two police officers responded to an apparent domestic disturbance. Upon arrival, they were confronted by a 50-plus pound, 6-year-old pit bull named Burberry.
The animal was shot by one of the officers after it appeared to “lunge toward him,” according to police reports. Police said the dog was shot two minutes after officers arrived.
“My best friend in the whole world was taken from me,” said Burberry’s owner, Ian Anderson, on his Facebook page, which includes numerous photos of Burberry mugging with babies and wearing bow ties, wigs and a party hat.
The change.org petition calls on SDPD to receive similar training to what police officers in Colorado receive, where they are taught to to read a dog’s body language/animal behaviors to better understand them and differentiate between threatening and non-threatening dog behaviors, as well as to employ non-lethal means whenever possible.