Unmuzzled Column Archive

If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous,
he will not bite you. This is the principal difference
between a dog and man.
Mark Twain

How To Treat Your Pets - And How Ohio Treats Them
By
Ruthie Augustein

Ohio has the worst animal cruelty laws in the country. This title was given to us by the Humane Society of the United States. If you steal a gum ball from a store you will get a harsher penalty than if you abuse a pet.

In my hometown of Alliance, you don't have to get your pet medical care. I've reported sick animals only to be told by the officer the "owners" will be advised it would be a good idea but they aren't required to seek help. Usually I get the run around, call the Humane Society, no call the Dog Warden, no its the police. All referring me to the other. I've witnessed the Humane Society come out to photograph obvious neglect but nothing was ever done.

Recently my hometown paper had an article on how to keep pets safe outside in winter. They referenced a pet in that situation that the "owner" called a "rescued dog". The dog looked miserable in the photo but the lady insisted she was happy.
The dog was forced to live outside or in the basement because the house was too small. She was separated from the other pets due to her size. I know several rescue groups will be reading this page...I know not one of you would have kept a rescue if it meant he/she would have to live separate from your family. You would have found a loving home where she could enjoy the comforts of indoor living. Real rescue groups never adopt to people who keep dogs outside.
I asked the paper to do a counter article but they refused. They said they asked a vet on the safe way to keep dogs outdoors. They printed my letter to the editor and considered that giving both sides of the issue. But the article had much more space. How are we ever going to improve the situation with animals if those with the ability to reach the most people won't help?

I have rescued animals so I do know they do have emotional needs. If any of my dogs had to sit outside or in the basement I know they would go mad..literally! I wish a person would live as they are going to have their dog live for a day. Then maybe treatment of animals will improve. I feel for the golden retriever in this story. They are great family pets, and she is left to live alone. They saved her from impending death...personally, I think death would have been kind compared to her life now.

The average person doesn't realize that animal mistreatment is directly connected to human to human violence. How you treat a pet is directly related to how you will treat a person, especially those you feel are below you, i.e. children. Statistics have proven over and over again, many who have been convicted of violent crimes have a past of abusing animals.

When will Ohio take notice and do something about it? We have extreme temps in winter and summer. Animals should not be allowed to be tied out for extended periods of time. Nor kept in the basement like mental patients of the past. If a person doesn't want a pet (definition-companion) then why bother having an animal in your care? Dogs tied to a dog house can't really help you in an emergency. If someone really wanted to get to you they would just kill the dog first..its not like the dog could get away, or even protect herself or you.

Pets are not alarm systems they are living, breathing, feeling beings..one of God's many blessings. Even the bible says man must take care of his pet. If all you want a pet for is protection and something to feed and water, get a plant and call Brinks Home Security!

One of our regular readers and contributors is a lovely woman we met up in Santa Barbara . Shortly after we met, her dog Bernie died and we witnessed the all too familiar heartbreak of our friend. Even though Cyndi volunteers at the Wildlife Sanctuary of Santa Barbara, the loss was overwhelming. Seeing her suffer, and seeing the incredible joy she now has with another little boy she has taken into her home, we asked her to write an article for others who may be grieving, to let them know there's always another needy little life out there, and you can find love again.

EB

CYNDI'S STORY

I think I can finally write this. This past April I lost my best buddy in the world, Bernie, my 13 year old Welsh Cardigan Corgi. He was my companion for six wonderful years. I knew when I adopted him from a friend (he was a retired show dog, a champion) that we would have a shorter time together than if he were a pup, as he was seven years old at the time. But nothing could have prepared me for the grief I felt when he left. He was one of the few pure souls I have ever known. He was my protector many nights when I felt alone and afraid, and the best Frisbee player I have ever known. I was so proud of him though I had nothing to do with his training, that boy was just good on his own. For anyone in pain reading this, I want to offer a message of hope (I'll get to the good part after I wade through the pain). I do know how awful you feel. I thought my heart would never feel joy again after he died. I have lost human loved ones, but this was different. I felt so lost without him. My days were so painful. I am the pastry chef at a well-known dog bakery, so the pain was very present, as I visit with dogs and their people all day. Customers who know me asked about Bernie, and I ended up in the back room in tears every time. The presence of a Corgi in the store was unbearable.

Of course I thought about having another dog in my life. I didn't know when I'd be ready or who I would find. Then one day he came into my life. Diego, a four pound ball of energy with large deep blue eyes set in the cutest face I believe I have ever seen. For me animals are no different than people, I love them equally. So in welcoming Diego into my life it didn't take away the fact that I still grieve for Bernie, but his appearance lifted the daily state of pain I was living in. I'm one of those people who does not feel whole without animals in her life. He makes me laugh, he gives me someone to wake up to every day. I don't care if this sounds crazy to some, animal people know what I'm talking about. He is completely different than Bernie, and it has been so much fun to watch a puppy grow.

So I guess the lesson is that our hearts do grow back. I thought mine would never work again, and a little boy who runs on his hind legs on the leash like a monkey made me fall in love again. I wish the same for anyone else who is hurting.

Cyndi, Santa Barbara , CA

~ If you have men who will exclude any of god's creatures from the shelter of compassion and pity, you will have men who will deal likewise with their fellow men. ~ St. Francis of Assisi

Proving that there is life after heartbreak, Cyndi, always keeping Barney in her heart,
gives a little piece of it to her husband's surprise gift to her, Diego.

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Baby Owl Rescued
by Rand Souden

A baby owl sits staring at me with huge, bright eyes as I write this. Soon after I started doing breed-specific dog rescue, I branched out a little. At first, it was a cocker spaniel. Then came the occasional Shih Tzu or Shar Pei. One day, I made the mistake of venturing into the local shelter's cat room while talking with a friend who rescues kittens and a little ball of fur pawed at my hand. He was slated to be put down that day and the kitten rescue was full. So, I bailed the little guy out and found him a home.

Having evolved from trying to rescue not only a specific breed of dogs, but other dog breeds as well as mixed-breeds and eventually an entire different species of animals the day the kitten tugged at my heart, it's not really surprising that I was awake every two hours last night to feed a baby owl.

I was thrust into this wild bird rescue effort two nights ago when an elderly neighbor phoned. He'd found a baby owl in the street and had it in a box in his laundry room. He didn't know what to do with it, but figured we would since we rescue dogs. I didn't have time to ponder how he made the jump in logic from dog rescue to saving a baby owl. I was too busy searching the Internet for information on caring for my new charge.

The fuzzy ball huddled in the corner of a cardboard box was initially reluctant in taking the concoction of raw meat, eggshell and cod liver oil offered in a syringe. By the next morning, he was moving about, turning his head about, blinking those big eyes and making a clacking noise to let us know he was hungry.

In researching what to feed the little guy, I came up with a list of bird rehabilitators in this area. Though I had a full page of names and phone numbers, after one night of feedings, I was skeptical that I'd find anyone eager to take on the responsibility of raising the bird, whose appetite was as large as his eyes.

A guy answered at the first number. He'd be happy to take the little owl, he said. But, he was several miles away and suggested I might want to phone someone closer. He gave me the name of a woman nearby. She answered on the second ring. "No problem," she said. She could help if she was needed. "The Humane Society located just a couple of miles away from you has a great program for wild animals, though," she told me. "Don't hesitate to call me back if they can't help," she concluded, "I'll take him."

The Humane Society was as eager as the others to help the little owl and within an hour of starting the process of looking for someone to raise the bird, I'd dropped him off with them. The shelter staff would care for him overnight and then send him to an animal sanctuary the next day.

Exhausted from being up nearly all night on owl feeding duty, I was ready to call it an early evening when my neighbor phoned again. Another owl had fallen from the nest. I reluctantly took the second bird and in a few minutes, he'll go to the Humane Society to start the same journey his sibling began yesterday. Like the one before, they welcome him with open arms and don't seem at all troubled by the four hour round trip a volunteer will have to make to the animal sanctuary to deliver the young bird to his temporary home. I am the only one, it seems, hesitant to commit to pulverizing eggshells to mix with raw meat and cod liver oil for feedings every 120 minutes, day and night.

As overjoyed as I was to find someone to take on the awesome burden of raising these little creatures, I was also a little dismayed. This species of owls is no more endangered than are Siamese Cats or Australian Cattle Dogs. Most shelters don't hesitate to put down an unweaned cat or dog without giving it a second thought. Why was it so easy to find a number of people not only willing, but eager, to take on the burden of raising a baby owl?

Maybe it's some guilt we feel as a society over changing the environment to suit our needs even when the changes brought about by development make for less tolerable living conditions for the animals with whom we share the earth. People paved the road the baby owl fell onto and it was with people's interests in mind that the road was constructed with little or no thought of the wildlife living in the area.

But, if obligation lies at the heart of the rehabilitation of young owls, why is there not the same feeling of responsibility to abandoned puppies and motherless kittens? These are animals humans removed from the wild and domesticated. If people have an obligation to any animals, it seems the greatest duty owed should be to those we affirmatively removed from nature's control when we brought them into our homes some hundreds of years ago.

I suspect it is something more than obligation that brought about so many options for the little owls. My guess is that certain animals - owls and most other birds, big cats, bears and others - are respected and awed because of their power or beauty, due to some mythological or religious belief associated with the animal's attributes, out of a mystery the animal holds for us or some combination of these factors. Nothing could be more common, on the other hand, than dogs and cats. The same familiarity that allows them to become our closest associate at times has pierced any veil of mystery that might once have surrounded canines and felines.

People in this country spend $10 billion a year on food for their pets. The market for pet toys, training equipment and other accessories continues to grow rapidly along with specialty services for pets. We spend another $11 billion a year on those services and that number is on a steady incline. Nothing is too good for our best friends, it seems. Though, while we reach into our wallets for the benefit of the family dog, her littermate might end up a stray picked up and taken to an animal care facility to be killed. One cat might be pampered while the one it shared a cage with in the pet shop is dumped at a shelter to be sold for use in research. Luck, more than any other factor, determines which animal is cared for and which is killed in the prime of his life or suffers a fate worse than death in a laboratory.

I don't begrudge the little owl his chance to live. He's sitting next to my desk, clicking at me to tell me it's time for another feeding. I'm both thrilled and relieved that it was so easy to find others to help him survive. I know it would have been impossible for me to look into those huge eyes and decide not to give raising him a shot had there been no one else to assume responsibility for his care.

I only wish we all felt the same responsibility to the animals we domesticated as we do to this young bird. Unlike wildlife, these animals are under our control. The duty of caring for them would be much easier to fulfill if we were responsible in allowing them to breed. There need not be any two-hour feedings. Only a fraction of the resources spent on luxuries for our own pets could save so many other dogs and cats who are just as deserving, just not as lucky. One-tenth of the amount spent on pet food dedicated to spay and neuter programs could prevent countless births of unwanted animals who are destined to lives of suffering.

Baby owls are not shy and I must feed my little friend and get him to the humane society. I should be relieved upon dropping him off, but know I won't. I'll be too consumed with the haunting worry that there are puppies or kittens huddled together in some other room waiting to be killed because there's no one to provide for the needs of unweaned cats and dogs. They are no less deserving than this owl. They just aren't as lucky.

by Rand Souden

Albert Camus said, "A rebel is a man who says 'no.'"

We, the men and, more often, women, who make up the rescue community are rebels. As rebels go, we may be somewhat unconventional. But, one trait that draws us together, compels us to aid companion animals in need and separates us from non-rescuers is that we have said "no." No: The mass slaughter of innocent animals is not a solution to pet over population. No: A pet is not a disposable consumer good that can be tossed aside and forgotten, like the toy of a fickle child. No: The killing of a healthy animal because there is not a home for it is not euthanasia; it is simply killing.

At least, we enter rescue work as rebels. But, as time passes and the workings of the shelter system become more commonplace to us, do we begin to stop rebelling? Faced with frequent visits to the death camps called shelters, emotional walls begin to build for many of us as a natural response. These walls serve a useful purpose. They protect us from constant emotional turmoil and allow us to make it through the incessant grind of rescue work. But, they also risk making us accepting of the status quo.

I attended a No More Homeless Pets conference last year put on by Best Friends Animal Sanctuary. Of all the valuable information shared there, I brought home two bits of information that continue to shape my thinking.

First is the fact that, of the communities to have adopted a "no kill" approach to animal control, the only constant is a decision that there had to be a better way and a commitment to find it. For every community, there are a million excuses why "no kill" won't work: It won't work here because (a) we're an urban community, or (b) we're a rural community, or (c) we're too ethnically diverse, or (d) we don't have ethnic diversity and the background of the people here causes them to accept things as they are, or (e) we don't have the funding more populated areas have, or (f) we have too large a population.... Each of the communities to adopt the no kill approach could have drawn from this laundry list of excuses. Instead, they broke from the ways of the past, rebelled and said "no" for a reason more compelling than any of the excuses: The continued killing of healthy companion animals as a means of dealing with their overpopulation is simply wrong.

The second lesson I left with was not about the homeless pet problem, but about myself. I realized that, over time, I'd bought into the belief that the killing is inevitable. I'd come to accept it as a necessary evil. I'd given in to the belief that there is nothing I can do to affect change other than for the tiny fraction of the animals in shelters I'm able to help rescue. I'd acquiesced in the continuing slaughter. Instead of a rebel, I'd become more of a coconspirator.

I understand the need to be realistic. But the admission that change doesn't happen overnight is all too often an excuse for making no change at all.

I recently was forwarded an email from an Internet mailing list about a young man intent on starting a rescue for a certain breed of dogs in a state where no such rescue exists. He has very big ideas, including plans for a kennel and some other major undertakings. There were an amazing number of responses from people experienced with the breed and others experienced with rescue work telling him why his plans are impossible. I disagree. It may not be easy to make his vision a reality. It may not be practical to think he can accomplish his mission. But, difficult and impractical do not add up to impossible. These are people who love dogs and who especially love the breed of dog this young man wants to save. But, even they were quick to draw from the time-honored list of reasons used to rationalize the continuing killing of healthy animals.

Faced with the decision to racially integrate the armed services, President Truman had a list of reasons from military leaders and other experts as to why it could not be done. It was a matter of national security, a weighty subject, and the advice was sound, in light of the times. Despite the enormity of the matter and against what then seemed to be practical and well-reasoned advice, Truman integrated the military after generations of segregation. Overriding all the reasons not to make the change was one compelling reason for change: It was the right thing to do.

The problem is not that this young visionary wanting to start a rescue is thinking too big, but that most of us are thinking too small. Commitment, dedication and tenacity can overcome what is difficult and impractical and make the seemingly impossible possible. If our premise is that we can't make changes which are difficult to accomplish and that the system can't be altered if doing so seems impractical, we've stopped saying "no." We've listened to the myriad of reasons as to why the killing is justified and forgotten the one overriding reason why we must stop the slaughter: Because it's the right thing to do. When we forget that, we are no longer rebels, but conformists, following the path we've always followed. It is the path that's been carved out over the years, the one on which we meet the least resistance and the one that leads to the death of millions of innocent animals each year.

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