Animal Rights

[mgdzkm433]

What do you all think about Animal Rights? I've recently been posed with a problem that involves a small puppy 8-12 weeks old. She is the cutest little thing and has the most beautiful eyes. My neighbor's daughter retrieved her from the Humane Society last week, without his knowledge. Since she brought the little baby home, she has been kept outside nearly 24 hours a day, with only a cardboard box for shelter. For the past several days it has been in the mid 90's. She can't get away from the sun at all during the day, except in the cardboard box, wich is exactly like sitting in a car in 90 degree weather, it only heats up rather than cools. When I go to play with her, she never has water, wich I fill often, but the owners never do. She has a hernia (sp?), and kennel cough--wich is an extremely bad case, worse than I've ever seen. She cried so much the first night that she lost her voice, and she hasn't regained it due to the kennel cough. Last evening I took her more water, and she hadn't touched her food that was put out that morning--it was 9:00 pm when I saw her last. Her nose was dripping mucus, she was hacking and throwing up water. I know she hadn't touched the food and that it wasn't new food because the people were gone the entire day. I'm very worried about her health. The girl who brought her home could have been no more than 18, her father was unaware (single parent). I spoke with the father the first night and informed him that she had a hernia, still nothing has been done. The girl's brother spoke with my fiance and said that the girl hasn't payed any attention to the pup since they got it.

What did I do about it? I called the Humane Society. I'm not sure what is going on because I'm still at work, but they said they would asess the situation.

What do you think about people who neglect pets? Do you think that animal rights should be more strictly enforced? How would you asessed the situation differently if you were me, or would you have done anything?

I just want various opinions so I know more about what can be done in these situations. I did what I thought was the right thing. I hope that it was.

[PenguinTrax]

Call your local police dept's non-emergency number and tell them you have a suspected case of animal abuse. They will either investigate the complaint or pass you along to animal control. An puppy that young should not be left outside all day in any weather condition if adequate water and shelter are not available. Do not continue giving her water or food - the animal control officers cannot intervene if you are caring for the animal. I know this from firsthand experience (we had a neighbor that was clueless to dog care).

Barb

[mgdzkm433]

When I spoke with the Humane Society, I informed them that I had been giving her water for the past 2 days, but today I have not been home to do so. So they know of the situation. When getting an animal from a shelter, such as they have, the person retrieving the animal has to sign an agreement to take proper care of the animal. If that agreement isn't met, I believe the shelter will press charges. My bring attention to the case is all the involvement I believe legally I would have. The shelter will asess the situation legally as they see fit.

[ZetaAce]

That's terrible to have that puppy outside and neglect her. Why get the dog if you're not going to take care of it! People can be so stupid sometimes!

[Kevin2]

I agree. That is sick...They shouldnt of gotten the puppy in the first place if they can barely take care of themselves. I think you did the right thing. Animals should have rights just like people. Hey, they love people unconditionally. Someone has to stand up for them. What about people that buy puppies then turn around and give them away after a few months or even a year? I dont think thats as bad as your situation but regardless people need to realize that pets are a major responsibility.

Kevin Mullinix
Beta Theta Pi

[mgdzkm433]

To give you a bit of an update:

The day that I called the Humane Society, nobody came to check out the situation. I waited a few hours after I got home to see what would happen. When it started thunderstorming.. .I had had enough. I called the County Sheriff's office. At first, they said they didn't handle those types of situations, so I threw a fit, and within an hour had a deputy at my house. He decided that the puppy was too sick and needed help, so he gave it to ME! Just for the night untill the shelter opened up again. He posted a note on the door of the tenants stating that the County Sheriff's office took custody of their dog. The next morning, the Humane Society came and picked up the VERY sick dog from my home. She was even MORE sick than I thought. We really didn't even think she would survive the night. I was home sick from work, so I called that afternoon and asked how the puppy was. The lady said that they gave her an antibiotic shot and a strong wormer, and that the owners were going to take her to the vet. I hung up the phone and went over there! I threw another fit in the shelter office. I told them that if they give that puppy back to the owners, I will have the newspaper alerted, the TV stations, the National Humane Society Association alerted. I told them I have friends that work in high places in the Humane Society and if I ever see those people with that dog or another pet for that matter, I will raise some serious Hell. So, the director promised me that they would NOT release that puppy or any other animal to that family ever again. I retold my story to the director and she agreed that the puppy was neglected. She also stated that she had not heard from the Sheriff's office, nor the humane officer that took my statement, NOR the officer that retrieved the dog from me. In my opinion, that's a HUGE lack of comminication on the county's part. I'm going to write some letters and complain, and I'm also going to alert the TV station of the situation and ask them to do a story on Animal Rights and the laws in our state that protect animals. I guess my nieghbors will think twice before neglecting or abuse a pet when they live near me!

I have to say that I think your involvement to save that little puppy was selfless and extremely admirable. Every community needs more people like you. Its unfortunate that the proper authorities on the matter failed to do their job...forcing you to get that much more involved. Thank goodness that poor little puppy had you!

[mgdzkm433]

I called the shelter this morning. I was going to tell them that I would take the puppy to the vet myself before it went up for adoption again, but the shelter employee stopped me. The puppy died overnight, and NOW they are going to seek legal action against the owners. I'm just glad she isn't suffering any more. I also told them if they need any help seeking legal action, I would be more than happy to help.

by the way butterfly, thank you. I've had some mixed emotions about the whole situation, should I get involved in other people's business or not? I finally had to get involved. I couldn't watch that poor thing die that way. Now I wish I had gotten involved sooner. It's unfortunate that she did die, I wish she could have been saved, but it's for the best I suppose. Hopefully they will get what's coming to them. I hate to sound mean and all, but that poor puppy didn't see a good day in it's life, and those people made it suffer. They deserve whatever they get and then some.

[Shelacious]

First I commend you on taking ownership of this situation. In my area, the Humane Society is very stringent in its requirments. First, there is generally a no-kill policy (expect for some dangerous dogs like Pitt Bulls (unfortunate too because Pitties can be the best dogs in the world (as my Pit, Rambler, cries in the background) ). Not only must a prospective owner sign an agreement, but that propsepct must also get permission from the landlord/owner of home if that prospect does not own their own home BEFORE they can get the dog. They also look to ensure there are no prior incidents of abuse on record from the prospect. I think there are also age restrictions on adoption (you can't adopt an animal without your parent's permission if you are under 18 or so...and still must get their permission if they don't own the home anyway).

You should fight to ensure that your local Society develops such rules as well before they adopt out any animal...and that there is a very easy path for animal control to reclaim an animal if an adoptee violates the agreement.

As a broader question, while my primary mission in servicing my community are working with those of the 2-legged variety (human folks, especially those under 18 years), I also realize that humans are stewards of the planet and all contained therein. Therefore, animal rights, Earth rights, along with human and civil rights, should also be a part of a GLO's social action platform, wouldn't you think?

Do any GLO's, either National or Local, have any action plans/platforms that work or have a partnership with an animal rights and/or ecology organization?

[mgdzkm433]

local,

I'm glad to hear about your sororities involvement. I'd like to see more involvement with the National Sororities as well. Not to mean that you don't make a difference, you certainly do, but Nationals can a lot of times make contracts with other National Organizations. Animal rights is a great venture. I'm not a die hard animal rights activist (I've got a fur coat coming to me in the future, and my favorite food is steak), but I don't like to see pets abused in ANY way, whether it's neglect or beatings.

As for our local Humane Society. Both of my pets came from the same shelter. All I had to do was sign and agreement (to provide and properly care for my pet and to have it spayed/neutered), and answer a few questions, such as where I live, do my landlords allow pets, my drivers liscense number, etc etc. I had to show my drivers liscense and that was that. They never did a follow up on us--which I am disappointed about. It's one thing to ask the questions, but people can lie, they need to follow up, make sure the animals are getting spayed/neutered, make sure they actually live at the address given, make sure the landlords agree, etc etc. That was one problem with this specific case. The girl adopting the pet didn't even give the correct address and phone number. She gave her grandmother's address and phone number. She doesn't live there, nor was the puppy ever living there. There are a lot of measures that my local humane society fails to do, as a 'concerned' citizen, I WILL be taking some action and writing a few letters. Hopefully some things start to take effect.

[prospectiverushee]

mgdzkm433,

You did the right thing. I am so sorry to hear that the puppy died. That's so sad. If you had mixed emotions about getting involved, imagine if instead of a dog it was a small child locked in a car on a hot summer day. Would you do the same thing or would you ignore it? I ask this because summer is right around the cornner where the temps will be unbearable in most place(it may be like that now in most places) and we all will hear so news story about a dog/small child locked in a car on a hot day.

Please keep us posted about what happens

[mgdzkm433]

I did contact the newspaper in my area and the gentleman I talked to is going to do a story in the paper on Animal Rights in our area and use this case as an example.

[theXgirl]

Originally posted by mgdzkm433:
I did contact the newspaper in my area and the gentleman I talked to is going to do a story in the paper on Animal Rights in our area and use this case as an example.

Right on!

mgdzkm433

Just thought I would share a story that I heard on the radio during my drive into work on Friday....it reminded me of you.

Apparently there was a woman who was driving in the Dallas area who saw the car in front of her hit a dog. The driver that hit the dog kept right on driving . The woman pulled over and discovered that the dog, although badly injured, was still alive. She picked the dog up and took him to her vet. She has since paid for the dogs medical expenses. With the help of one of a local radio station, she is trying to find someone who will give this dog a home. She has even offered to pay for the final medical expenses (prescriptions, etc) but can't take the dog herself because she already has two dogs at home.

It angered me to hear about someone being so cruel as to hit a dog and keep on driving without a care in the world. But I also found it reassuring to know that there was someone who loves animals enough to stop and help that poor dog. If only more people were as giving and compassionate.

[Katelyn]

You really should call the police NON-emergency number. If they don't do anything about it within the next few days, then you do something. Take the dog to the vet YOURSELF. Or else just talk to your neighbors. Ask them to do something about it and if they are not going to then ask them if you can. It shouldn't matter about money or anything else, this is a living creatures life we're talking about. Dogs are my favorite animals in the entire world and I would do just about ANYTHING to save an unhealthy dog's life!

Tell me how everything turns out! Good luck!