DEFENSELESS ANIMALS

Yesterday I witnessed an all too common situation in my neighborhood. A woman down the street (I don't even want to refer to her as a neighbor as being a neighbor hints to the fact that that person is liked by the speaker) has 2 pit bulls that she abuses constantly.

Last night she had both of them in the car and was trying to get them out of the vehicle. The first one was on a leash and was scared to death to come out of the car. The woman yanked it out and began to drag it to where she wanted it to go by the choke collar it was wearing. She got it behind her fence and the dog was cowaring. The second one was even more terrified to come out...it manage to run out the opened door and ran past her.

She was screaming and swearing at the dog as it ran around the car trying to avoid her. It finally hopped back into the car perhaps feeliing safer there. She bolted into the opposite door and proceeded to beat the dog who was screaming in both pain and fear. She finally dragged the beaten dog out of the car and back onto her property behind a chain link fence. The dog was terrified.

First of all, let me explain, I am not a fan of pit bulls (another story another day) as another one from the neighborhood attacked Sheba twice. But I am not a fan of any animals being abused, pit bull or not. This woman thinks beating her dogs will bring them into submission. I am not sure if I would call it submission.............but rather fear. All she has succeeded in doing is to have broken their spirits. Sheba is totally obedient to me without ever having to be beaten or even hit. She minds me and just loves me because she knows she is loved by me and is protected by me.

All this was witnessed by the neighbors who were out on their porches enjoying the end of a beautiful summer day. Before I could make any phone calls, she had dragged the animals into her house. It would have done no good to have called the police as they would have needed to witness the situation before they could do anything. She has been reported before to the authorities, but they come out, look at the dogs, and she talks her way out of it by saying that the neighbors are out to get her. Unfortunately unless there is a visable injury, the authorities can't do anything.

I made the appropriate calls today to the SPCA and was told that they would come out and talk to her. I was also informed that this was the first complaint they received about this incident. I sit here and shake my head. At least 5 neighbors witnessed this act of cruelty and have said nothing. In my opinion, they are guilty of cruelty as well by not stepping up to the plate and reporting such incidents. I know that she will once again get away with this, but at least I know I made some effort to protect those poor dogs. I can still hear those pitiful yelps and know in my heart that I have done the right thing.

. The poem I left on my Sunday blog entry is only more real now. A dog will just tolerate just so many beatings before it turns on its owner. In this case, I wish the dogs would, but they would only be put down. But then is being put down worse that the existence they are forced to live in now?


ANSWER TO LAST TRIVIA QUESTION: What was a pompadour, flat top, and a DA? They were hair styles of teenage boys in the 1950's.
TODAY'S TRIVIA QUESTION: What phenomena made popular in the 1950s allowed everyone to become an artist?
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: Warning: never take a sleeping pill and a laxative at the same time