Doggie Death
Cody, a Chesapeake bay retriever, is currently awaiting execution at the Linn County Animal Shelter. His crime: chasing livestock in a field near Tangent. In a similar case, Sean Roach, owner of Nadas, a malamute mix, is having him moved to Utah in order to keep Jackson County officials from executing him for chasing a neighbor’s horse.
Tangent attorney Robert Babcock is representing Cody and is fighting to save his life. Babcock, who also represented Nadas, is planning to try and gather enough signatures to get a measure on the November ballot to change the current state law, under which any dog can be put to death for chasing livestock even if the livestock aren’t injured, according to the Democrat-Herald.
This law needs to be changed. Dogs chase things, it’s in their nature. I hardly see how it is the dog’s fault that he felt the urge to chase a few sheep. If anything it is the owner’s fault for not making sure that the dog was unable to get to the sheep. Instead of killing the dog, which accomplishes nothing because the dog doesn’t know why it is being executed or even that it has done anything wrong, why not punish the owner by imposing a fine or, if livestock are injured, forcing the owner to reimburse the rancher? Or perhaps force the owner to enroll his dog in an obedience class where it will learn to leave the livestock alone. In the end the same result will have been reached, the dog will no longer chase livestock. The difference is that one solution saves a great deal of anguish on the part of the owner. Dogs can grow to become a part of the family, and everyone knows losing a member of one’s family is a painful experience.
At the very least the law needs to be changed so that the consequences are determined by the individual circumstances, which is what Babcock seeks to do. Currently, under this law, my 15-pound Rat Terrier could be executed because he ran around in a sheep pasture barking at some sheep even though he would have absolutely no chance of hurting them. Or what if someone’s pet Chihuahua escaped from a stopped car and ran after some sheep barking? If a sheep really wanted to, it could hurt a Chihuahua easily, and the dog could still be put to death. What’s next, a law prohibiting Cats from chasing mice and birds?
A dog doesn’t know that chasing livestock is wrong any more than he knows that it is wrong to pee on the furniture before he has been house trained. This law is wrong and it needs to be changed. Killing an animal for being an animal makes about as much sense as cutting down a neighbor’s tree because it is casting a shadow on your garden. The tree can’t help it and neither can the dog.
So, kind reader, if you happen to see one of Mr. Babcock’s signature gatherers, take a moment to stop and sign his petition. The life you save might be your own. Well, your dog’s anyway.
copyright 1998, The Commuter newspaper, reprinted with permission
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What a freakin' moron, I'm not listening to this crap anymore!
Email: bandgod@dnc.net
