A police dog’s death has Kansas poised to increase penalties for killing K-9 officers

Kansas is poised to increase penalties for killing police dogs and horses after legislators gave their final approval Tuesday to a measure inspired by a suspect's strangling of a dog last year in the state's largest city. The Republican-controlled state House approved a bill with a 115-6 vote that would allow a first-time offender to be sentenced to more than three years in prison for killing a police animal, an arson dog, a game warden's dog or a search-and-rescue dog and up to five years if the killing occurs when a suspect is trying to elude law enforcement. The current penalty for killing a police dog is up to a year behind bars and a fine of between $500 and $5,000, and the law doesn't specifically cover horses.