13-05-2025
Town of Richmond changes policy after two stray dogs shot
SHAWANO COUNTY, Wis. (WFRV) – Town of Richmond officials voted to change their policy for handling stray dogs after a town supervisor shot and killed two stray dogs last month causing controversy.
Town officials will now call the Shawano County Humane Society to assist the town's designated dog catchers with picking up stray dogs. The town will not have to pay the Shawano County Humane Society for these extra services.
Town officials will also need to post pictures of stray dogs reported to them on their social media accounts, an attempt to facilitate reuniting the animals with their owner.
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'We now have a path, we have a plan, we can work together,' said Shawano County Humane Society executive director Pam Nowak. 'We all understand and we're clear.'
'It'll be nice to get this behind us,' added town chairman Steve Gueths. 'I hope what we did tonight will do that.'
Shawano County Humane Society officials said a policy like this could have prevented the incident that prompted these changes. According to an incident report from the Shawano County Sheriff's Department obtained by Local 5 News, town board supervisor Ken Damveld shot and killed two stray dogs back at the beginning of April.
According to the incident report, Damveld told a deputy that the dogs were acting aggressively towards him and that's why he shot them. One of the town's supervisors told Local 5 News that their municipality follows Wisconsin State laws when it comes to dealing with stray dogs.
According to that law, a person may intentionally kill a dog if it's threatening serious bodily harm to the person and the person tried other ways to restrain the dog or needs to take immediate action to protect themself.
Many people don't buy Damveld's story. Nowak believes that people often misconstrue aggressiveness with fear, while one of Damveld's relatives says he has a history of abusing animals.
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'His own dogs through the years cower at him when he calls them, his own dogs are afraid of him,' said Gina Damveld who is Ken's daughter-in-law. 'I've heard him say repeatedly that it's quicker to shoot them than to catch them.'
She said both her and her kids have witnessed Ken doing terrible things to animals. Local 5 News made multiple attempts on Monday to reach out to him to get his side of the story, but didn't hear back. He didn't attend the meeting on Monday night.
Nowak said they don't really see reports of aggressive stray dogs in other cities which is a big reason why she's skeptical about Damveld's story.
Community advocates have collected hundreds of signatures on a petition asking the town to stop allowing residents to shoot stray dogs.
Nowak said she believes that the town of Richmond has a culture of people believing it's okay to shoot stray animals. At a meeting, a supervisor refuted this claim.
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