Posted on 11/07/2009 6:30:13 PM PST by JoeProBono
The clutch of walkers in San Pedro stood and gawked with disbelief. They watched as a man got out of his car, played for a bit with his beautiful, muscular pit bull, and then got back in the vehicle and drove off – without his dog.
A suddenly slap-happy canine – left behind by his despicable owner – discovered a new found joy in his freedom as a rover. For a few moments in his life, there was no leash, no owner, no Alpha boss -- and a Los Angeles park right beneath his paws to explore. The jolly canine wandered up to just about everybody – with or without dogs – to greet them with licks and woofs and just sheer excitement. The rest of us stood-- still stunned by the owner’s chillingly, uncaring action. Walkers got on phones calling for animal control.
The trouble for this merry beast was this: Due to pits horrible reputations, many animal lovers at the park, who normally might have taken in the dog, were simply too afraid to take the breed home and mix him with their animals or their children. It appeared the animal shelter – where most dogs even resembling a pit bull have trouble getting adopted – was this canine’s next stop.
It’s likely it lead to his death, which leads me to nag endlessly with my usual rhetoric.
Why – oh why – can’t the city of Los Angeles – since its council members are so worried about roosters – forge some pretty nasty fines on dog owners with a lot more teeth. We need tools with more bite than bark – to guard the public as well as these dogs, who routinely are repeatedly euthanized in shelters and are abused and used for dog fighting.
It’s woofing out of control.
Look: if our Harbor Area Councilwoman Janice Hahn can be so proud of crafting a measure that forces residents to only have one rooster – cock-a-doodle-do—then for bark sakes, do something to force bad owners into the dog the house.
If we can craft an ordinance that citizens can't declaw their cats, then we can certainly craft one with penalties for citizens whose dogs are running around ...or are dumped.
Let’s slap some hefty fines on those who dump or let their canines wander. Let’s microchip every dog with its bite history and as one attorney suggested. Let’s do something for dog’s sake! To sit back – and be do-nothings – will not change the number of fatalities incurred by dangerous dogs. For two decades starting in the 1980, only about 17 fatal dog bites happened each year.
But in 2007, there were 33 fatal dog attacks in the U.S, a figure that has nearly doubled, according to the Dog Bite Law website.
Fatalities are bad enough, and we are not including the thousands of Americans bitten each year –368,000 -- who needed medical care.
I know that I’ll have a bunch of pit bull lovers after me for this, but someone – anyone – if we actually have any leaders in this city of 3.6 million (City Attorney Carmen Trutanich, are you there?) needs to create something to tighten the leash on careless dog owners who let their pits or other dangerous dogs wander neighborhoods.
In this case, no one, unfortunately, got the owner’s license plate – they were still in shock - and while I walked away, I wished we could have slapped that owner with a $5,000 plus fine for his dog-gone deliberate-canine -dumping.
His decision to abandon the animal was unfair to those enjoying the park, who were saddled with his problem, and even worse for the dog.
Meanwhile, the reputation of pit bulls for biting, killing pets, causing injuries – and even death has become alarming. Just recently, a 3-year-old toddler was left in the backyard at an Orange County Home with a family pit bull -- near the food dish. The little girl was mauled to death by a dog the owners had for 10 years. The list goes on.....
We have five dogs, all but one dumped on our road. Its one of the rites of spring out here in the country. They are all great dogs, although two showed signs of previous abuse and it took awhile to bring them back to normal.
They are all happy campers, and are living a great life on a farm, but I can’t take in every one we find and those who can’t find a home meet a cruel fate.
I live in a college town and its amazing what happens to the animals when students graduate. They just leave them.
I live way out in the country and people regularly dump dogs off here.
The last one was expecting pups and she was a great dog. She had 8 pups and they were as cute as any I have seen. I simply put up a sign in the yard and within two days had given away all but one which I kept. Also gave away mama dog.
The one I kept turned out to be a fine dog. Really sweet natured and pretty too. It was so easy giving away the pups that there is no excuse for just dumping them. Three of them were picked by little girls with their grandparents. Those were lucky dogs I bet.
Halloween night my daughter found a severely starved, dehydrated black kitten. Perfectly tame and friendly as all get-out. She had obviously been a pet.
I’ve been looking for the owners while we nurse her back to health and I’m hoping she was just lost, not thrown away.
But on Monday, I’m taking her to the vet. As I see it, once we put money into them, they’re ours. It’ll be nine days of searching and I think that’s enough for “good faith”. She really can’t wait for medical care any longer.
and cat dumpers
Maybe there is a systemic problem. My dad recently dropped off two strays that turned up at his place and they wanted his picture, address, phone number and and a lot of other info!?!?! The more difficult it is to do the right thing, the less people will do it. I remember a couple of years ago some state had a no-questions-asked drop a unwanted child off at a local hospital and people were driving from 2 states away to drop off their teenagers. They had to re-write the law. What is San Pedro’s law on dropping off unwanted pets?
My DH watched a dog get dumped last week from his office window. Right now he’s asleep on the sofa with our man-killer Pit Bull sound asleep on his lap.
The high school stadium near our home is a favorite dumping spot for unwanted pets. We found our dog, Jack, there, about 8 months old on a with a too-tight collar, hookworm, tapeworm, fleas and ticks. We found our cat, Candy, in a similar condition only also pregnant.
we live in the country and took in two beagle/labs last year... they are the sweetest dogs... we already had two dogs at that time--which brought us to four... and then our oldest dog, a border collie, died of old age soon after that... our third dog, a bordie collie mix, was another dog we found in our yard (in the suburbs) eleven years ago...
As a teenager, I would find piles of dead hunting dogs at the end of bird season with GSW’s to the head. The fat cats from the city would go to the pound and buy dog that would work for them for their trip, then be put down.
We know what you mean. We are down to three dogs now. We’ve had thirty over the past almost thirty-two years, and all were dumped, or just showed up at the ranch one day.
Sometimes we had as many as six at one time. Mostly older dogs when they came to us.
that's right! it's an investment... ;-)
In my 20 plus years at this location I have had boxes of kittens, puppies, old and young dogs...and the ones that cause me the most pain..the aged, infirm that have been dumped for medical reasons. One of the most heart rending was an “elder” blind collie mix that attempted to chase the “dumpees” car down the road. I kept her, she was a great dog for the short remainder of her life.
I guess legislation might work, if one could catch the villain.
Myself, I want to catch these folks and put them out in a remote area. Let them see how vulnerable they are with no shelter, food and a hostile environment (both human and animal predators). Oh..I'll go back and get them in 2 days or so. That will give them a far bigger break than they have given another living creature.
This will probably get me flamed, but it would be kinder for the “owners” (and I use this term loosely) to put these domesticated animals down. There is no guarantee they will find a soft heart.
My daughter also brought home (from the stadium) a very sick but friendly little cat. We named her Cheerio. She spent 3 days at the vet to get over the starvation and dehydration, though the vet thought she had very little chance of surviving. We brought her home and hoped she would get better. At least she was comfortable sleeping on my bed, being petted, and taking a little bit of food now and then for the last few days of her life.
I'm pretty sure most decent PB owners would not object to more stringent leash/vicious animal penalties.
For the first abandoned pet we took to the vet we put up posters about “found dog,” but after I found out in what bad condition the dog was from neglect, I took down all the posters and decided anyone who made a claim would get that dog back over my dead body.
Please supply more detail to make your post credible. I am skeptical of such knowledge and you have only recently joined. How do you know it was “fat cats from the city” who were hunters, and not anti-hunting animal rights activists who were dumping their kidnapped dogs?
Obviously what this guy did was wrong, but given that he took time to play with the dog before driving off without it, I’m inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt. So many people in this rough economy are being forced to give up pets because they’re losing their homes, or just can’t feed them. This guy may have tried to find a home for his dog without success, ran out of time, and just couldn’t face taking it to a shelter where it was virtually 100% certain to be euthanized. Maybe he was thinking at least there was a chance somebody at the park would see the dog, feel sorry for it, and adopt it — maybe he thought he was giving the dog a 2-3% chance instead of a 0% chance.
All I know is that people who just don’t give a crap about their animals, usually just toss them out of the car and drive off without hesitation, so I just don’t think that’s what was going on here. Maybe, just maybe, because of the publicity this dog is getting *only* because of how his owner abandoned him, he’ll be one of the lucky few who gets a new home.
About 10 years ago, I was at a shelter to adopt a cat, and a man came in wanting to turn in a cat because it was “vicious”, said he couldn’t keep it because it had bitten and scratched his young children. The idiot lady at the shelter told him they couldn’t take it because it had bitten someone, and it could have rabies. Huh? Take the cat, and the info about who it bit, euthanize the cat, call the public health department re whether they want it to pick up for rabies testing. But no, she just tells the guy “can’t take it”, and wouldn’t budge even though the guy said he’d have to just take it home and drown it if the shelter wouldn’t take it. I wanted to punch her. Here’s somebody trying to to do the right thing, comes to the animal shelter, and they insist that he do the wrong thing.
A few years later, the growing mountain of various types of horror stories from this shelter hit a tipping point, and became a big local political issue. It was forcibly put under new management and tighter government control (which, much as I hate to say it, was a good thing in this particular case).
I still have the sweet kitty that I rescued from that place.
I don’t know if this kitty is going to make it. She was improving wonderfully at first, but yesterday morning she started to go down. She’s done nothing but sleep for the last 36 hours.
I hope she makes it through Monday. I have no idea why she’s suddenly taking a turn for the worse after doubling her body weight in the last week.
Rescued a cat who was badly abused. He still is not right, even 10 years later, you can tell.
Yeah, they have complex personalities and looooong memories, just like humans.
She was quite happy to have food and water. I kept feeding her by hand, and she kept telling me that just a little more would be appreciated.
At first she seemed to have a problem with trusting adult males, including me. I suspect this was the result of mistreatment by her previous owner. Eventually she came around.
When I picked her up she looked old, but to my surprise the vet said she was very young. I advertised for the owner, with no response.
She is now completely healthy, actually quite an athlete, and I think completely herself.
The dump location was always in the same location each year. I asked the farmer who owned the land and he told me it happens every year and he does not have the time to sit and wait for them. There were always at least a half dozen dogs, sometimes more. A lot of the properties in this rural area were bought out by lawyers & business owners who only came in to town to hunt and fish.
We were taught to treat our hunting dogs very well so it was a shock to find this each year.
I suppose that’s what I was getting at.
“Kitty leukemia?”
Crossed my mind, too. My cat died of it in 1980 before they knew what FIL was.
Yeah, I had the sweetest kitty die from it too. You can find out with a simple test. It only takes a few minutes. Hope it comes back negative. Best of luck.
"There is nothing more expensive than a free cat" - My father in law.
It was feline leukemia. We took her to the vet today for the diagnosis and had her put down. My son is digging the hole for her right now. We’re putting her beside our other kitty Lazamataz who was hit by a car three weeks ago.
$140 for the vet visit.
I’m much too sad about this. I can’t believe I’m grieving for a kitten that we only had for 10 days.
Fine them the total real cost of capturing, housing, treating and if need be, destroying and disposing of the beast, plus ten times that dollar amount in “punitive damages,” so to speak.
Like you, I have spent ridiculous amounts of money of pets that weren't even mine. I'm certainly not rich by any means, but know that these creatures are God's, too, who are innocent victims of being discarded- for whatever reason. What they do for us, no matter in days, weeks, months or years, can ever be repaid. All we can do is love them, and return the unconditional love to them that they so willingly gave to us.
Godspeed...
But maybe thats just how they do things with fine hunting dogs in VA and CA.
Ditto...my wife and I own four 'rescue cats', but I feed all the neighborhood cats, as well. They have 'owners', but they must not be well cared for, as they are always in the kitty beds I have for them in the garage. You did a wonderful thing, Marie...the kitty had a chance to learn what love is before she went to Rainbow Bridge.
It is just as bad trying to give them a home...I couldn't believe the paperwork involved in 'rescuing' a kitty cat; whether thru a program or your local kill shelter (and that's just what they are). I marvel at these people who have established 'sanctuaries' for 5, 6, 700 cats. Wow. If I had the money...I have the love, but not the money.
Wasn't Michael Vick 'doing business' in Virginia?
Thank you, rintense.
When we lost our cat three weeks ago I didn’t have time to grieve. The next day we were in the middle of a major family crisis that is only now resolving.
My husband works on Ft Hood and when the shootings happened, I was so focused on making sure my husband was alive, then that my kids were OK, then enraged at the media and Obama’s stupid remarks that I didn’t take the time to grieve for our fallen.
Now this little kitten dies and everything has hit me at once. Suddenly I’m crying for everything.
My kids are feeling it too. My son is amazed that he’s so crushed. He says that he thinks it’s because she was just a baby. She didn’t even have a chance.
I am grateful that we found her. I’m grateful that she had a full belly, a warm home and loving arms for her last 10 days on this earth. Yes, I’d happily pay $140 dollars to bring peace to one little cat. I don’t regret anything that we’ve done.
Hang in there during this difficult time.
His dad gave him a mandate.
He watched for the next people (man and woman) who drove by his farm and dropped a dog off. After they had turned around down the road (dead end) and drove back by, they saw him standing at the end of the driveway with the dog dead in one hand and a gun in the other. He yelled at them to look what they made him have to do, and not to come back.
I'd be willing to bet they didn't...
He wasn’t hunting and pit bulls are not hunting dogs.
Shot the wrong animal(s), IMO.
We really do not know what happened in the situation that you described. However, if the dogs were taken from a pound, they were rescued from an almost certain death, at least for a time. Even our fabulously rich society cannot support all the dogs and cats produced every year. To do so would be the death of us.
So the unwanted dogs and cats must die, so that the rest of us can live. This is why I support the neutering of pets. There are way too many unwanted dogs and cats. People in todays society shy away from simple, unpleasant, but profound truths.
That is one of the reasons the Jihadis think us weak. It is time for the adults to be put back in charge.
We really do not know what the pile of dead dogs came from. It might have been remains of a fighting dog ring, for all we know. We really do not know what happened.
I do not necessarily see it as evil, at least it is no more evil than what animal “shelters” do, who kill most of the animals that come to them.
You are kind and appreciated! :-)
Oh Marie, even the littlest of God’s creatures can tug on our hearts. So sorry she didn’t make it. She was lucky to have you and loved even for a short time. A sad day. Thank you for sharing. Got to run for tissue.
Love, Poobear
I had my “hissy fit”, then started looking for a new kitty.
Until now, I thought I was pretty well done with more pets. It’s taken years to outlive the ones my kids kept bringing home. With the kids going on to college over the next three years, I thought I was done with pets.
I’ve got my sweet dog, and “my boys” (two male cats).
Now I see that I’m not done and I’ll never be done. G-d will send me another kitty soon, I’m sure of it. (One He will let me keep!) :-)
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