Witnessing Abuse and What to Do
My coworker has been witnessing some horrific abuse of a young dog behind her house. She told me about it this morning and it made me ill.
Apparently some monster started beating his dog with a rake Friday evening and did it again on Saturday. Then Sunday they saw this piece of filth shooting at his dog with a BB gun.
Is there anything more repugnant?
I wish that our laws dealt with such abuse more harshly. There is a direct link between the abusing of animals and the prevalence of criminal behavior.
Apparently the dog is a Husky or Husky mix which makes my blood boil even more … Huskies are working dogs and need to be kept active and stimulated. When they become bored they become destructive. As a puppy, Kodiak ate all of our wedding candy! Not only that, he chewed the corners of our coffee table and kept trying to steal our socks and bury them in the back yard. We never once beat him for his adorable (though often destructive) puppy behavior.
My coworker thinks that the dog is doing something destructive in the yard but it sounds like he’s locked in the yard at all times. And I don’t care what a dog does to misbehave - there is NO excuse for taking a rake to him or shooting him with a gun. Even a BB gun! The dog doesn’t know why he is being mistreated. All the dog wants is to give love…and all his owner is doing is sowing fear and creating a potentially dangerous dog.
It breaks my heart. And what can be done? Thankfully my coworker called the non emergency police number and the sheriff’s department said they were sending someone out. She didn’t see the dog this morning but is going to check again tonight. If she see’s it happening again she plans to call again and if worse comes to worse will go over and try to rescue the dog herself.
This dog will need serious help from a rescue organization. I pray that he (or she) is rescued soon and one day finds the proper loving home that he deserves. The “person” abusing this dog needs to have charges brought up and a severe punishment (nothing short of hitting him with a rake and shooting him with a BB gun would really be enough) including monetary fines.
August 27th, 2008 at 10:43 am
[...] and trying to keep my mouth shut in order to keep peace at work. A coworker and her husband are witnessing the abuse of a dog behind their house. They have called the police several times as well as the animal control [...]
August 27th, 2008 at 2:13 pm
Do you think the local humane society would do anything? Since, I’m assuming the police haven’t even driven by yet.
I hope the dog ends up OK. You could always go talk to the guy and ask if you could find a new home for his dog. I don’t know… people like that are scary.
August 28th, 2008 at 12:30 am
Please be careful. Sometimes “calling animal control” doesn’t have the effect you would want. Sure, they will take the dog out of the situation, but if the people sign the dog over, then the dog can be euthanized at any time. The dog will be held for investigation, but if they don’t investigate or are done with that part of it and no longer need the dog for it, the dog just ends up one of the shelter population and if not adopted within 3-5 days will be destroyed.
This is not always the case but happens often enough.
I encourage you to contact a group such as Dogs Deserve Beter. Their take is to approach people. They deal mostly with chained dogs but if a dog is never in the house, they may help. They won’t seize the dog nor have the authority to, but they approach people in less threatening way or could at least give some advice. Maybe they can convince the people to sign the dog over to rescue. Maybe not ALL the parties at the house agree with abuse and maybe the abuse will stop. You can find their link in my sidebar of my blog.
As far as “Humane society” please note that not every shelter that uses the “humane society” name is a nokill shelter or is even associated with the national US humane society. some are animal advocacy groups, some are just regular old kill shelters, and some are small lowkill shelters. you have to do your research.
Also, another tip is to have your friends express to the authorities or the shelter that they wish to adopt the dog. Maybe the dog will get a chance. But they may not rule in favor of letting them have the dog being that they are right next door.
I have known cases where someone brings in a stray to the shelter, but states they want to adopt if they don’t get reclaimed, and keep in touch adn are there with bells on the day the dog becomes available to adopt but abuse cases could be different.
God Bless your friends for caring
September 3rd, 2008 at 11:31 am
[...] Casto My coworker called me yesterday from home (she was still on vacation) to tell me that her next door neighbor’s dog had been taken [...]