Terry Cullen raided

[wolfy-hound]

The cops had a warrant which does indeed "allow them" to go barging in. That's what warrants do.. otherwise, cops would have to stand politely outside a suspect's home and hope he decided to come out nicely.
When the cops went in, if the two mastiffs were behaving in a aggressive manner, yes the cops are within their rights to shoot the dogs. While a lot of mastiffs are big sweethearts, some are protective, especially when a group of strangers comes running in. Again, the cops can't just say "Well, there's a couple 200 lb dogs here, we can't go get the guy we're arresting."
Not having been there, or seen video tape explicitly showing the confrontation, I can't say whether the cops paniced and shot the dogs or did so only when they felt truly threatened, but they do have that right to protect themselves when they are serving a warrant in the process of their sworn duties.

Whether the warrant was justified only falls on the judge and accusers, not the cops.

I believe the place they found all the animals was more than one story, so it's possible the alligator and the dogs were on seperate areas, with the alligator contained in some manner to a certain room or rooms.