Home > Duluth.Talk > Archives > 2007 > September
September 2007
Support your local shelter
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Here is a good story about animals.
Gwinnett County opened a new state-of-the-art Animal Welfare and Enforcement Center on Tuesday. The new center will provide for animal adoptions, safely hold lost pets and house pets no longer wanted by their owner. The center will provide facilities to spay and neuter animals and storage pens that will help reduce the spread of disease and sickness.
I confess, I am an animal lover. I grew up with dogs, and I have had two cats, both of which I found as strays when they were kittens. Junior, my current housemate, has been a good feline friend and companion for the past six years.
What strikes me most about animals is their innocence. They have no hidden agenda (although I sometimes think that Junior enjoys being a bit of a prankster), they are not born with an innate sense of violence or jealousy. If you love them, they will love you back. If you teach them, they will learn. If you respect them, they will be a faithful and loyal companion throughout their life.
We can’t always say that about people, but if we love our pets, they will love us back completely and with devotion.
I can understand if some of you don’t see this relationship between humans and their pets. Most of you who don’t understand this relationship will do nothing more than say, “that’s a cute dog,” or, “I just don’t understand cats.” That’s OK.
But some who don’t understand engage in behavior that most of us cannot comprehend, regardless of whether or not we like animals. They abandon animals on the side of the road. They drown them in a lake or a creek. They teach them how to fight for our amusement. They take out their frustrations by kicking or beating them. They don’t feed them, or they tie them to a tree with a chain and completely ignore them. There aren’t many people who do this, but the few who do cause us outrage.
For animals subjected to these people, the shelter is a haven. The shelter will find good homes with people who teach pets love and respect. The shelter makes sure the pets are healthy when they leave.
Unfortunately, many animals will not be able to find homes. They may be too sick or too scarred by mistreatment, and they will have to be euthanized. It is unfortunate, and it makes me sad. However, often the alternative is much worse.
I would urge all of you to support the shelter. Donations are always welcome. Warm bodies are always needed as volunteers to help operate and maintain the shelter. And, of course, there are always animals who would gladly receive the love and affection you can give — especially by inviting them into your home.
Do you support the new animal shelter?
Permalink | Comments (6) | Post your comment | Categories: Bill Allen
The vet, the dog, and the unpaid bill
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Dr. Gary Innocent has found himself in a difficult situation.
Pilot, a mixed breed border collie, was diagnosed with parvovirus, a disease that is often fatal to dogs. The disease could have been preventable with vaccination. Josh Gomez, Pilot’s owner, did not inoculate the dog, resulting in the animal requiring extensive medical care.
Dr. Innocent’s service and treatment save the dog’s life. Pilot should have a normal and healthy dog life. Everyone lives happily ever after. Right?
Wait a minute. It turns out that the care for Pilot ended up being more expensive than Mr. Gomez could afford. An extra $500 meant that Mr. Gomez couldn’t pay the bill in full. Dr. Innocent paid for additional food and lodging. He’s not a bank, not independently wealthy, and there is no insurance company from whom he may expect compensation.
So, Dr. Innocent told Mr. Gomez that if he isn’t compensated for his services, he will send Pilot to the pound, where he may possibly be euthanized.
Nobody wins here. On the surface, Dr. Innocent can be portrayed as an unsympathetic businessman who just wants his money. However, Dr. Innocent is a professional who should rightly be compensated for the service he provides. People who hate animals don’t become veterinarians. Dr. Innocent treated a problem that could have been prevented with simple vaccinations and attention by the owner to the pet needs. He is not in a position to treat all his patients for free.
On the surface, Mr. Gomez can be portrayed as an unsympathetic pet owner who is too cheap to provide for his pet. But he’s a hard working individual dealing with an unexpected financial hardship with few options for recourse. He clearly wants his dog back, and he would willingly pay the $500 if he could find a way to come up with the money.
Georgia law treats pets as property, not as family members. There aren’t a whole lot of options provided by the law to find a workable solution. The two things that these individuals have in common are that they want a dog to live a happy and healthy life, and the veterinarian should be adequately compensated for the good work that he did.
There don’t have to be bad guys here. Maybe the best thing is just to let these people work something out, then go to work on our representatives to get them to enact laws that protect the vet, the owner, and the dog.
Permalink | Comments (40) | Categories: Bill Allen
Services »
