Philadelphia has seen a spate of incidents involving police officers shooting dogs this year, raising questions and concerns. In the most recent incident, two officers responded to a dog attack in South Philadelphia early Thursday morning, where a pit bull was attacking a Pomeranian and turned on the responding officers. Both the pit bull and the Pomeranian were pronounced dead at the scene, as reported by CBS News Philadelphia.
According to The Philadelphia Inquirer, this incident marks a concerning trend, as the number of dogs fatally shot by police this year equals the total for the previous year—five since January. Although the executive director of ACCT Philly, Sarah Barnett, understands the officers' responses in these situations, she notes a troubling rise in aggressive behavior among dogs that could be attributed to various factors, including the pandemic's impact on socialization.
In details obtained by NBC Philadelphia, the sergeant involved in the most recent shooting is a 16-year veteran of the department, and the accompanying officer is a 20-year veteran. The officers, adhering to police policy of using firearms as a last resort to protect against injury, were both wearing body cameras during the incident. These cameras recorded the sequence of events leading to the fatal shooting of the attacking pit bull.
The recent spate of shootings began on May 1 when an officer shot a cane corso that was part of a group attacking a man. In a separate incident on May 15, Officer Brian Keenan, a seven-year veteran of the force, fatally shot a pit bull and inadvertently wounded an owner of one of the dogs involved. Such harrowing scenarios appear to be more frequent, suggestive of a larger pattern of concern echoing through Philadelphia's streets, and dogged by an uptick in canine aggression and violence that has put both police officers, and the public they serve on the frontline of an urban struggle where safety and survival intersect with animal welfare. Investigations into each shooting are ongoing, per department protocol, while the officers involved have been placed on administrative duty.
