very few people living in a very remote, rural area; everyone is far enough away from each other to have sufficient privacy. due to the particular location and land situation, there is essentially no authority around to worry about. folks do their thing, interacting when necessary/desired, mostly keeping to themselves.
one of the folks in this scenario is despised by almost everyone else. aside from a general lack of consideration for others in the area (a trait not unique to this individual), this person has a large number of wolf-dog hybrids. supposedly (some people claim this as fact, others have only heard it second/third hand) he breeds and raises them as guard/security dogs. in doing so, the person has one or more kennels, where most of the dogs are kept in what many assume to be very bad conditions (i myself only hear this second hand). what is undeniable is that he has a shitload of wolf-dogs, and they often make lots of noise (which may be a result of hunger - he is often hurting for money). he keeps 3 or 4 of these dogs as his companions, and they roam the area freely, often getting into other people's food and garbage (assumedly due to hunger). one person that lives somewhat close to the dog-man claim that he also abuses the dogs. note: dogs being hungry is not uncommon around here; a neighbor/friend often runs short of food (human and dog) by the end of the month, and i have had his dogs picking around my place.
now, a bit more background. this guy has been kicked out of most places he has lived, as a result of his wolf-dog doings. apparently, the way that has happened is by people killing all his dogs. folks out here are not really feeling that as an option. also, this guy is clearly unstable; sometimes he seems like a friendly dude just living his life out here. other times, he goes berzerk; throwing temper tantrums, making serious threats, etc. i personally have only seen the former, but i trust several of the folks that have had direct interactions with him where he was the latter. some have tried talking to him over the years about the dog situation, but apparently (i was never privy first hand to this) that triggers him and he goes off.
when i have asked the folks who swear he is abusive to the dogs why they don't do anything, they all say "he's crazy, i'd be worried about retaliation". while i am a lover of almost all non-human critters, i don't seem to feel as strongly as some about the situation; that is at least partly because i have no first-hand evidence of abuse, and the one person out here that claims to have seen it first hand talks a great deal of shit, so i don't necessarily take him at his word. (everybody has their own agenda, of course.) and nobody will go near his place, for fear of dog attack and/or him shooting first and asking questions later. i have asked about approaching him as a group, and basically forcing his hand (folks have been escorted out of the area at gunpoint before); they are all scared of what that might bring on later. to me, that just means don't let there be a later.
while a liberation action would be rather easy (he goes out almost every day), that would undoubtedly result in the death of all the dogs, as they would then be simply roaming the area scavenging for food, and surely getting shot. one person out here tried contacting a wolf rescue organization, but nothing ever happened. where we live, most folks would be afraid to come without the authorities, and the authorities basically avoid it.
i am the only person out here that has never had a bad run-in with the dude, and i don't have the desire to kill him. he has always been cool with me; though i fully believe he is unstable and probably capable of the abuse some accuse him of. and even if he were eliminated, there would still be the 25-40 wolf-dogs to deal with. nobody out here is going to call the cops, and though several folks would love to see him dead, none of them are apparently willing to do it.
so, with that as a basic description of the situation: what would you, as an anarchist, do?
