FL Lawsuit Says Dogs are Family, Not Property

Are your dogs your property, or part of your family?  That’s a question that’s at the heart of a lawsuit in Florida.

FOX News Radio’s Chris Hoenig has details:

(Glass) “It’s true grief, and it’s true mental pain and suffering.”

Roy Glass is filing suit against St. Petersburg police and a cop who shot his dog, Boomer, after the officer says Boomer growled at him after getting loose last year.  But to succeed, Glass will have to convince the courts that Boomer wasn’t “just like” family…he WAS family.  Right now, the law says otherwise, treating pets as personal property.

(Dietz) “They have the same rights as a chair.  So, it’s not fair that if something happens to your animal, that all you get is the fair market value.”

Which attorney Jennifer Dietz says would be about $25 – the cost to adopt from the Humane Society.  The city, declining to speak in detail, says they grieve for Glass’s loss, but the law is the law.

Chris Hoenig, FOX News Radio.