Wednesday, October 19, 2005
The term "animal rights activist" has unfortunate connations in today's society and brings up images of Riki Lake tossing red paint on fur coats in Manhattan and ridiculous PETA ad campaigns against fishing by showing a dog with a hook in his mouth. However, there are and will continue to be a need for people to stand up for our four legged friends until people like Judge John Salyer consider animal neglect and mistreatment as the horrendous crime that it actually is.
In August 2004, the Pike County Humane Society and several other aniumal rescue groups removed 108 dogs and puppies from the residence of a man named Don Hall. This October, thirteen months later, Hall was found guilty of just two counts of animal cruelty. Just two! And what was the sentence for such a crime? He was fined $100.00 for each count, given 60 days jail time which was then suspended, given three years unsupervised probation and was allowed to retain custody of 25 dogs.
WHAT? Hold on just a second. Before you get fully steamed, let me tell you the rest. Don Hall is not only abusive to animals. In Nov, 2004, Hall was convicted of domestic violence and ordered to undergo anger management counseling. As if you needed another reason to lock this guy up. Yet, Salyers, friend to women and animal alike, felt that Hall deserved to retain his rights to roam freely, a right Hall clearly doesn't believe extends to the dogs he forces to live in the cramped conditions evidenced by the photos here.
I am no radical animal rights advocate. I like a steak from time to time and in fact animal protein is a staple of my diet. (Too much so according to my cardiologist, the nosy bastard) Let's get real, humans have canine teeth for a reason and I like leather (for shoes and, ahem, other things that shall remain nameless. . .) but there is a right way and a wrong way to do almost everything including the way we treat the animals that help sustain us. Until we learn to treat everything with respect, how can we expect to be treated with respect ourselves? Hmmmh?
