I am a local resident of Wabash, Indiana. Not only do I have my dogs in this town, but I also have experience working for a humane society. With this background, I was devastated to learn that inadequate training led local police to unnecessarily kill a dog. 

We are not blaming the individuals who responded to the situation; rather, we point to the systemic lack of proper training as the issue. With approximately 78 million dogs owned as pets in the United States, encounters between law enforcement and canines are inevitable (American Pet Product Association, 2018). However, unnecessary force in these situations is avoidable.

Having a dedicated, properly equipped animal control team in Wabash can prevent incidents like this from occurring in the future. Specially trained animal control officers can handle these cases in a way normal police officers might not be equipped to do so. With an animal control team, police officers can go back to focusing on human-related crime and safety.

To honour the dog that was unnecessarily killed and to prevent any future occurrences, we are asking the town leadership to establish an animal control team specifically trained to deal with such incidents. We love our Wabash community, human and pet alike, and we want everyone to feel safe and protected.

Please sign this petition to bring change to our town. If we all lend our voices to this cause, we can make Wabash a better place for all living beings that call it home.