MILFORD – The Milford residents’ Facebook group is typically a peaceful, friendly site for members to share cute photos of animals or make recommendations for restaurants.

Last week, however, the site exploded with comments after a woman posted an angry rant about her encounter with a dog on conservation land off Federal Hill Road.

Addressing her comments to “the lady in the dark pink shirt” who was with a black Labrador retriever that was off-leash at Monson Center, the poster, Vicki Marie, said the Lab ran at her and her two dogs.

She said she had a gun and threatened to shoot the dog if it ever happens again.

“You are lucky I didn’t shoot your dog that came running up on me and my 2 dogs, she wrote. “You are equally as lucky that I DID have my gun on me, because I sure as h**l was ready to have a face-to-face confrontation with you.

“If your dog ever runs up on me and my dogs again, I WILL shoot him. I don’t want to, but feeling threatened like that, I will have no recourse. For the record…it is legal in NH to do so. People like you should not have a dog as you clearly are oblivious or just plain ignorant. You’ve been warned.”

Posters on the Facebook site responded quickly and mostly in the negative, some saying they support the Second Amendment and that these kind of threats give gun owners a bad name.

The rant even drew a comment from Gary Williams, a local pastor and the chaplain of the Milford Police and Fire and Ambulance departments.

“Why are we even talking about shooting dogs or each other and being so nasty to each other here?” Williams wrote. “Some people are afraid of dogs (regardless of how nice your dog is), so be courteous, obey the law and keep them controlled on a leash. Yes, your dog may be friendly and want to lick someone to death, but others may not want or perceive that and they have just as much right as you to walk the trails in our town.

“On the other side; just because someone isn’t courteous doesn’t mean we have to threaten violence in a public forum. Lethal force may be legal and hopefully never necessary, but the threat shouldn’t be thrown around like this.

“Can’t we just please act like adults and treat each other with just a little respect…”

The residents’ site moderator Wade Scott Campbell said that after about 15 hours and almost 1,000 comments, the woman left the group.

“And just like that, I’m done with your site,” was her final post.

Campbell has been moderating the site for almost two years and said he prefers to keep things positive and keep fights to a minimum.

But he also believes “censoring defeats the purpose of public engagement.”

“I could have easily removed it,” he said about the original rant,”but I wanted to make sure authorities saw it … I try to promote positive engagement, but sometimes I allow negative posts to balance out the positive,” while trying to keep out trolls who try to spread discord.

The site is separate from the official Milford website and Milford Facebook page.

Vicki Marie could not be reached for further comment.

Monson Center is nearly 300 acres of fields and woods and a small museum, managed by the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests. It is open to the public for hiking and dog walking.

FACEBOOK POST

“Discloser: RANT: To the lady in the dark pink shirt and black lab, that was at monson center at about 12:30 this afternoon, you are damn lucky! You are lucky I didn’t shoot your dog that came running up on me and my 2 dogs. You are equally as lucky that I DID have my gun on me, because I sure an hell was ready to have a face to face confrontation with you. I saw you coming up the trail with your dog in no leash. I took my dogs off that trail about 60 feet down another trail to wait for you to pass. Next thing I know I have your off leash dog running down right at me and my dogs. My dogs did what they naturally SHOULD do and barked…alot! That’s because my 7 mo pup felt threatened. Do you have any idea what needless fear this puts on any dog? You helped create another layer of fear in MY dog! I heard you yell out stop to your dog and of course he didn’t. Which is exactly what my gut told me was going to happen. Which is why I went into another trail.you CLEARLY have no control over your dog! But you sure and hell had no problem yelling out to me and my barking dog, to control my dog! Really?! Tell you what lady…I go up there often. If your dog ever runs up on me and my dogs again, I WILL shoot him. I don’t want to, but feeling threatened like that, I will have no recourse. For the record…it is legal in NH to do so. People like you should not have a dog as you clearly are oblivious or just plain ignorant. You’ve been warned.”