Andrea Rosebrock 
Update 7/2/09 – Dog Shooting Mayor Facing Trial for Felony Animal Cruelty
Update 2/11/09 – Dog Shooting Mayor Gets Standing Ovation
Mayor Don Call of McCune, KS has threatened to shoot Duane Wahl’s dogs if they were running loose again. On Sunday, he got a call from a resident that said the dogs were loose and chasing his children. Call got in his vehicle with a 9mm semi-automatic rifle, tracked the dogs dog laying in Wahl’s yard and proceeded to shoot them… again and again. Sheriff Sandy Horton says the dogs were shot 7 times with the high powered rifle.
“I told him that if he did not want to take care of the dogs, that I was going to shoot them the next time,” Call said. “I said that I was through playing this game and he was going to take care of them and that was back in January.”
Call then left, went to his home to get a trailer and loaded the dead dogs on the trailer to take to his home for disposal.
The Mayor says he was protecting his community but the Sheriff doesn’t look at it that way.
“A witness says he drove around the block, shot a few more rounds, drove around a third time, came back and shot a few more times,” said Crawford County Sheriff Sandy Horton.
Sheriff Sandy Horton says the dogs were a threat to no one when he says they were shot at least seven times.
“A 9mm rifle, the bullets are going to travel a long way, and shooting that many rounds inside a community is to me, going a lot overboard,” said Sheriff Horton.
Sheriff’s records show the department received four calls since June 2008 complaining about Wahl’s dogs being aggressive and running loose through town. Call said the city has sent Wahl letters about the dogs.
Wahl said the dogs were chained up in his yard when they were shot. As I’ve read through the numerous reports, it seems Wahl said in January that he was going to get rid of the dogs. One report says on one of the dogs was his, another says neither dog that was shot was his and of course the first reports coming out say that they were safely chained in his yard. Guess that will get figured out in time but that doesn’t change the fact that two dogs were shot dead while they were laying in Wahl’s yard.
The Crawford County Prosecutor has charged the mayor with two felony counts of cruelty to animals and one misdemeanor count of criminal discharge of a firearm. He turned himself in and was released on $3000 bail. He says he has no regrets about killing the dogs.
McCune’s dog ordinance, passed in 2006, says dogs running at large are subject to impoundment, and that no dogs can be “disposed of until after a minimum of three full business days of custody.”
Now I have to admit that I have very mixed feelings about this. No, there is no way that I could ever condone the Mayor’s actions. When he shot and killed the dogs they were no threat to anyone. But is these dogs had been an ongoing problem, something should have been done. The owner of the dogs bears the responsibility for keeping their pets under control. I can understand a dog escaping once and that really should be all the heads up a person needs to make sure they are more secured in the future.
There is no doubt that the Mayor has earned the charges against him but what about the dog owner, if indeed the dogs did belong to Wahl? He seems to be distancing himself from the situation pretty quick and hard now but…
What are your thoughts about this whole fiasco??
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I agree with what you said…”Now I have to admit that I have very mixed feelings about this. No, there is no way that I could ever condone the Mayor’s actions. When he shot and killed the dogs they were no threat to anyone. But is these dogs had been an ongoing problem, something should have been done. The owner of the dogs bears the responsibility for keeping their pets under control. I can understand a dog escaping once and that really should be all the heads up a person needs to make sure they are more secured in the future.”
If the owner would of been resposible, the situation could have been prevented.
I HAVE NO MIXED FEELINGS ABOUT THIS ONE. YES THE DOGS MAY HAVE BEEN LOOSE & YES MR WAKL WAS WARNED. BUT THIS POS FORMER MAYOR (I SAY THAT IN HOPES HE IS REMOVED AS MAYOR) HAD NO RIGHT TO SHOOT THESE DOGS & THEN TRY TO DISPOSE OF THE EDVIDANCE (WHICH HE SHOULD ALSO BE CHARGED WITH). IF MR WAHL WHOM OWNED THE DOGS WAS WARNED ONCE & THEN THE DOGS WERE FOUND LOOSE AGAIN A SECOND TIME WHY DID SOMEONE NOT CALL ANIMAL CONTROL? WHICH IS WHAT IS SUPPOSE TO BE DONE. H*** EVEN THE SHERIFF SAID THE DOGS WHERE NO THREAT TO ANYONE FOR CHRIST SAKE.I’M WONDERING IF SOMEONE REALLY DID CALL OR IF THIS POS JUST WENT THEIR SAW THE DOGS LAYING IN THE YARD & JUST SHOT THEM MAYBE HE HAS SOMETHING AGAINST MR WAHL & HE DID THIS IN RETALIATION, AS I BELIEVE IS THE CASE NOTICE THE POS SAID HE WAS DONE PLAYING THIS GAME WONDER IF IT WAS SOME OTHER KIND OF GAME HUMMMMMMM. AND ANOTHER THING WHAT THE H*** WAS HE DOING SHOOTING A BLOODY GUN INSIDE A COMMUNITY WHERE CHILDREN WERE PLAYING? HE SHOULD ALSO BE CHARGED WITH CHILD ENDANGERMENT FOR EVERY CHILD IN THAT NEIGHBORHOOD!!!!! THIS POS SHIT DON’T LOOK TO BRITE TO ME ANYWAY HOW DID HE BECOME MAYOR IS WHAT I’D LIKE TO KNOW. I SAY THROW THE BOOK AT HIM & HAVE HIS ARSE REMOVED AS MAYOR. MAYBE PUT THE SHERIFF IN THERE, AT LEAST HE CARES.
I do not have any mixed feelings at all about this. Look at his picture of stupid redneck! The owners should have done something about their dogs being loose and perhaps the dogs should have been picked up by Animal Control, if the hick town had one. If not, then the police should have given them citations fining them owners or giving them a chance to surrender the dogs if they could not control them. This gung ho mayor shoots seven times? What a backwards idiot and has no business being a community leader of anything, certainly not mayor with his brains and ego. This moron will not step down..he is into power so he needs to be thrown out of any position of authority and replaced by a humane intelligent individual with common sense, not a redneck using his power for personal matters. He wouldn’t last in my town five minutes…that is a fact!
There is no justification for what this mayor did – period! If he was a responsible mayor, he should have called animal control himself. Yes, the owner needs to be responsible but having dogs chained in the yard is also cruelty to animals. The dogs should have been found new homes if he did not want to make them members of his family and allow them to live inside the house. Hopefully, the mayor will be replaced. What will he do if kids are out at night or doing things to bother other residents – shoot them! Yea, great idea!! May the poor dogs rest in peace.
this guy needs the same done to him… why not just chain the dogs up yourself till the kids are done playing…. Hope the guy burns in hell and the poor dogs rest at the rainbow bridge where they can run and play all they want …. the world doesn’t need people like this… I’ve done it myself help out loose dogs till they can returned home to thier owners it’s no big deal … people are just lazy and become barbarians ” I’m going to getmy gun ” and play big man … dude this the year 2009 help out the animals not kill them … now we should do the same to you …there was abear in my back yard this past spring big deal I didn’t go get gun as a matter of fact I watched and enjoy mother nature at her best as the bear tried to get into the large dog house that I have out back just in case during the night a dog needs a place to sleep in the warmth..no gun needed just eyes to watch and enjoy
The only think I will say is, the only injustice here, is the dogs were brutaly killed! That’s it!
I am currently embarassed to admit that I live in this community. The story which Fox4 WDAF-TV in Kansas City ran featured an interview with the county sheriff that shocked me. Apparently, at least one of the dogs was CHAINED UP when it was shot. This is a black eye for the city of McCune, Kansas. I hope he gets the maximum sentence. I would also like to point out that our City Supt/Animal Control officer and Asst. City Supt. have access to a tranquilizer gun. Once a vicious animal(and in this case that is questionable.) is tranquilized, they are transported to a local animal hospital and confined for three business days. The owner must pay penalities or they will be humanely euthanized.
I would also like to point out that the Mayor missed a few times because there are bullet holes in the house, privacy fence and the Beware of Dog sign on the privacy fence. Shame on you Mr. Mayor! And shame on you for refusing to resign!
It is a difficult thing to deal with, especially in a small community, when the eyes of the country turn on you and often everyone is lumped into the same category. As the Mayor of your community, it looks as if he represents the people and yes, it really does give the whole community a black eye.
I’m not what interview you are referring to but I do have to say that I applaud the sheriff for taking action almost immediately in this situation. It makes a strong statement about him and those who elected him to do his job. I hope the community stands behind him. I have read that quite a number of people actually applaud the actions of the Mayor which were appalling.
Thank you for taking the time to speak out and stand on the side of justice. Regardless of whether the owner was right or wrong, of whether the dogs were running loose or not, they did not deserve to be mercilessly shot down by some gun happy guy who thought it was his right to take the law into his own hands. Like you pointed out, there is an animal control officer and if there was a problem, they were the person who should have dealt with it.
I am with you in hoping that the Mayor is prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law and summarily booted out of the office.
Kindest regards,
Deanna
There is no excuse for taking the law into your own hands. This man deserves maximum penalties for what he has done. Also, shooting in a community could have resulted in an innocent person being shot as well. We don’t know what the owners have done to restrain their dogs from getting out. Dogs are smart and can be very good escape artists. Once I moved. My dog kept escaping and running back to the old home. He learned to climb a six foot chain link fence, break into the window through the screen and out through another window as well as digging. It was frustrating! Another dog I had had a large 20 foot kennel but wanted to be in the house. While I was at work, she ate her way through the chain link fence and then tried to eat her way through the door to get into the house. So before I judge the owners, I’d like to know what they have done to keep the dogs in their yard.