Kickstarted Documentary About Puppycide Close to Donor Goal Needs Lots of Money
Filmmakers explore law enforcement shootings of dogs
The folks at Ozymandias Media are less than $15,000 short of their $100,000 donation goal to looking for donors fast to help produce Puppycide, a documentary about the terrible trend of law enforcement officials unnecessarily shooting citizens' dogs, claiming (usually incorrectly) that the pets were behaving in a threatening fashion.
The studio has 15 days left to reach its goal of $100,000. They currently stand at less than $15,000. Their Kickstarter page describes more about their project:
When we first learned about puppycide, we assumed that these must be cases of police responding to threats on their lives from dogs trained to attack by criminal owners. That couldn't be further from the truth. We found scores of videos and news stories about dogs who were laying down, tails wagging, even running away but still shot by officers who used lethal force as their first and only response.
We were very upset by the footage and stories and felt a documentary on the topic was in need. We took our cameras on the road, reaching out to victims and capturing their experiences.
We also began exploring the police perspective, which is a vital part of this story. While some incidents involve callous officers too quick with the trigger, we found the issue is much bigger than that. The lack of repercussions, policy changes, new equipment, or apologies, demonstrate how systemic this problem is. Experts have explained in interviews how police officers are not currently offered the simple training, tools, and support they need to change.
The trailer features a couple of puppycide cases familiar with regular Reason readers and an appearance by former Reason editor and puppycide expert Radley Balko. Also on the Kickstarter page is a gallery of photos of dogs that have been shot by police if you feel like spending Halloween in a deep, angry funk.
As the trailer shows, they've done a lot of work on the documentary so far. This remaining $100,000 is, they explain, to "travel to incidents as they occur; step-up our inquiries through Freedom of Information requests of police records; shoot more interviews with owners, advocates, public figures and police; research and acquire footage of puppycides caught on tape; interview experts on dog behavior; participate in police ride-alongs and trainings; and find a home for the finished film."
The Kickstarter page is here.
More Reason on puppycide here.
UPDATE: As Reason commenter np noted, I initially had the donor numbers totally backwards. They've only raised $15,000 of the $100,000 they need.
