Small Injustices

I am an admitted animal lover. I have 6 of my own, three dogs, three cats, all but one were rescues or strays. I admit that I like my pets better than most people. My dogs aren't prejudice. They don't like people based on color or income. My dogs rarely argue with me when I rant about politics, probably because they're smarter than most neocons. *meoooow* My cats have yet to condemn my spiritual beliefs. I think they know more than we do.

So watching pet rescuers in St Bernard's Parish discover not one, not two, but three sites where pets had been slaughtered causes me more than a modicum of distress. I am left with a strong need for revenge and fingers that itch to reach around someone's neck. I hope whoever did this spends a lengthy degree of time in jail.

In case you haven't heard, let me set the stage:

Evacuees in St Bernard's Parish went to several public buildings: Schools, etc. They took their pets with them into the facilities. When rescue came to take them out of those schools, they were told by Sheriff's deputies that they couldn't take their animals with them and had to leave them in the shelters.

Evidently the reputation of the St Bernard Parish police was well known because owners, crying and upset, left messages about their babies on walls. They secured them in different rooms of the buildings, left food and water for them, one woman's plea on the wall saying: These are good dogs, please don't shoot them.

The cretins didn't listen. They entered all three sites and massacred all the pets inside. All of them. Regardless of breed. Puppies, nursing mothers, even the service dog of a deaf woman. All butchered. Yes, I said butchered. Those who discovered the site won't describe the complete picture of what they found because of the graphic nature of the killings. Some dogs were left to die slowly of their wounds. Some tried to run and were tied up and shot. Some huddled together in fear and were blown away by shot guns.

I don't understand. I don't know how you look at the fear and pleading in a dog's eyes and then react with violence.

Some weeks ago one deputy in St Bernard's Parish was videoed shooting at pets from the back of a truck as they ran towards the humans, tails wagging, most likely hoping their owners had returned. At that time someone attempted to argue with me that this conscienious deputy was only acting on behalf of the community, killing the dogs before they turned feral and attacked the young children of St Bernard's Parish. That was and is a crock.

Few dogs have turned feral. Hear that? FEW. Rescuers are saying dogs are still being found alive and they almost jump into the arms of their rescuers. They're scared, their lonely and some are hungry. These dogs weren't abandoned. Their owners were forced to leave them but they left them with food and water and expected to return to claim them at some time in the future. They presented no danger to ANYONE.

I hope the assholes who shot those animals are abandoned and forced to live a very long time alone, cold and abandoned by people they thought were friends.

It's difficult for me not to be emotional, but in reality we are defined in many ways by the way we treat our animals. We're not talking about free roaming wild creatures that are sometimes hunted, hopefully for food because otherwise I think that's wasteful as well. We're talking about animals that we have designed to be companions and pets. If live is worth so little that we can discard it without thought, then what does that say about our moral barometer?

It tells me that maybe we're NOT the advanced species we think we are.

If it lives and breathes it should not be disposable. If it lives and breaths we have a responsibility towards it. In regards to wild game, it means if you're gonna kill, be a responsible hunter and make it A - fast and B - as painless as possible. If you're a petowner it means you suck it up and take care of your animal and if you don't, then you need to be prepared to pay for someone else to take care of them. It also means spaying or neutering them.

But even if you don't own pets, if you are part of a thinking society you don't take life lightly. You have respect for what God puts here and get your rocks off another way.

I want Mike Minton in jail and I suspect he took part in this slaughter as well. I want them punished and then, God willing, I want America to take a good look at how we deal with pet ownership.



For those that want to know more:
http://www.pasadosafehaven.org/NEWS/NEWS.htm

the first video "Dogs killed at evacuation center" http://edition.cnn.com/video/player/player.html?url=/video/us/2005/09/30/cooper.dogs.shot.cnn
or
http://tinyurl.com/9t4lf


or directly in Windows Media Player (choose Open URL and paste the link) mms://wmscnn.stream.aol.com/cnn/us/2005/09/30/
cooper.dogs.shot.cnn.ws.wmv
the second video "Who killed the dogs?"
or
http://tinyurl.com/978g6


http://edition.cnn.com/video/us/2005/09/30/
lavandera.dogs.killed.follow.cnn/content.exclude.html
or
http://tinyurl.com/e2oas

or directly in Windows Media Player (choose Open URL and paste the link) mms://wmscnn.stream.aol.com/cnn/us/2005/10/0
1/lavandera.dogs.killed.follow.cnn.ws.wmv
or
http://tinyurl.com/dqke5