Friday, September 11, 2009

Dog who mauled two people sent to sanctuary, owner being charged

I remember reading this story earlier in the year about a group of kids run by what I can only describe as a crazy 16-yr-old girl with serious issues.

It starts out sad and just gets worse.

The four kids were kicking and beating a dog. The dog, by the way, was owned by the 16-yr-old crazy beatch with issues. A woman saw what was going on, stopped and asked if everything was okay. She was attacked by the girl and beaten. She encouraged her dog to attack as well. Another passer-by, female, was severely beaten by the girl (so much so, the girl injured her foot) and was bitten badly enough to expose bone.

The girl has plead guilty to 2nd and 3rd degree assault and possession of alcohol. No charges for abusing her own dog.

Obviously this is a very troubled young lady. At most, she'll spend a few months in "prison" and then she'll be out, free to wreak havoc upon the world some more. There was no stipulation, so far as I could tell, that she be prohibited from ever owning another animal (when she can legally own one, of course). There's no word on whether she'll receive a lobotomy or, at the very least, psychological therapy.


And then there's the dog. In most of these situations, the dog is killed, forgotten, accused of being guilty for an unknown crime (or just the sin of being born). In this situation, there was a large public outcry over his fate. Even though this dog is, by most standards, damaged. Possibly permanent. He is aggressive and dangerous and unfit to be adopted by anyone who might expose the dog to, you know, other living beings (or themselves). So he's headed to a sanctuary.This is pretty unusual, especially for a case involving a really significant bite wound. But I guess when you don't just have the run-of-the-mill stupidity and neglect, when you have some extraordinary circumstances like a whacked-out teenie-bopper of a loser girl going crazy....well, then count yourself lucky (maybe).


My hope is that the dog's personal needs will be considered, that staff will do everything to make his life happy on his terms. If that means complete isolation from people with only the most limited interactions, so be it. If it means being paired up with an appropriate canine buddy, great. If it means he can have a good quality of life on his own, it's hard for me to think that's possible for a dog, but if it is, so be it.

All this dog has known for his entire existence is uncertainty, abuse and confusion. Fear has been wielded against him by the one person who is supposed to be loving and a leader. He's been denied respect and understanding. I hope he can get some of that back. He deserves it, right? I mean, they all do.

And yeah, I still think the kid should get a lobotomy. Sue me. But don't really.

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