Here's something that worked 20+ years ago, and was great fun. There was a
neighbor whose vermin would wander constantly, and dig in peoples' gardens.
I really made every possible effort to deal with the problem via the animal
control fool, but he kept giving me stupid excuses, like "I need more than
an address - I need to actually SEE the dog off its property". (Not true,
but that's what he believed). One day, I went out to the garden and found
the mutt digging just inches from some newly sprouted lettuce. I chased it
home and ripped the lady a new one. She claimed the dog was always tied up,
and she didn't know why it kept getting loose. I told her she had 24 hours
to figure it out.

Next day, the vermin was running loose again. I had a fishing magazine which
contained a picture of shark heads stuck up on telephone poles by a marina.
Fishermen used to hang them up in the same way hunters display antlers on
the wall. I tore out the picture, brought it to the woman's house, and
explained that this would be her dog's fate if she didn't get a grip on
reality. I let her keep the picture.

An hour later, the cops were at my door, telling me I was naughty. I showed
them all the notes I'd gotten from the animal control dummy, which indicated
that he was giving the woman a free pass to trespass all she wanted. I
suggested they go speak to her about civil trespass. They did. I never saw
the dog again.

Unfortunately, within the category of animal control droids, there is a
subculture that favors dogs, and lets their owners get away with all sorts
of illegal activity. To me, this means that anything goes.

on Tuesday 04 April 2006 12:14 pm, studio blabbed incessantly producing the
following:

That being the case take care of the retarded/vicious dog and take him out
yourself.  Make sure there are no witnesses if you don't live trap them
though.

The Raven wrote:

Duplicity will get you nowhere.
You want me to prove the animal wasn't charging, and yet I'm allowed to
"rub him out".

If it were my animal being murdered, and I contested it.
It's not up to me to prove the animal was charging, it would be quite
the opposite.
The court would decide by preponderous of evidence
who was telling the truth or not about the demeanor of the animal.
i.e.
Were there witnesses
Did the animal have a prior history of attacking people
Had you seen the animal before
Was the owner notified
How did you know the animal was aggressive
Did you have time to aviod the animal
Why did you have a weapon at the time
Why didn't you call animal control or police

If it was my peaceful animal you* murdered.....
you* should be prepared to answer these and more questions in front of
a judge.

Then again, I'm reasonable, so if an animal control officer told me to
keep my animal
off your property, I would have complied, or should reasonably be
expected to pay fines for non-compliance.

If you read my posts carefully, you'll see that I wrote that it depends
on what evidence is found, and that ignorance is no excuse.
i.e.
If your neighbor saw the cat murder the dog for no apparent reason or
outright malice, then it's easily proven, your ignorance would be of no
help, and could actually cause further problems for you.

It may or may not. First steps first. Exhaust all avenues before doing
anything drastic.

It all depends on how big the problem is to you.
$150. hr. trumps the possible aggravation, fines, law suits and
prosecution aimed at you instead. In which case you might spend a lot
more on a lawyer than that.

(*You meaning; not Raven, but a metaphor for anyone).