For the second time this year*, I just witnessed an animal being abandon on a busy downtown street while driving a few blocks from my work. While slowly rolling through the high-traffic municipal court and post office area, the passenger of a small SUV in front of me tossed a white dove out their window. Watching in disbelief, my side view mirrors showed other cars nearly running over the confused animal as it staggered to the curb.

Unfortunately, from my angle, I didn't actually see the bird being dumped from the window. As I followed the SUV (going toward my destination), I saw the passenger's window rolled down and a young girl looking back toward the scene, removing all doubt as to what actually happened.

My blood immediately began to boil, since I regard animal cruelty as an unforgivable offense. Question was, two blocks and two minutes from my parking deck, what should I do about it. I got a glance at the driver; a man probably 35-40 who didn't look noticeably rough. Should I follow them to the next traffic light, hop out and ask why the hell he abandon a bird like that? Should I go more drastic, whipping my car in front of him, blocking his way before approaching him? Should I get his plates and call the police? Follow him? Lay on my horn? Or just let it go?

If that bird survived the cars and people long enough to reach night fall, it would probably be killed by the cold. Maybe the man was well meaning and convinced his daughter that the bird would fly away; in which case, why didn't he release the bird any of the large nearby parks? He would have been more humane to smash its head with a brick rather than sentencing it to a terrifying or slow death on a city street.


*The first incident was in the summer, nearly the same stretch of road, I saw someone toss a 2 month old puppy out the open door of a car and drive off. The puppy nearly got hit by three cars in its confusion, looking to each apathetic passer-by to find its owner. I should have stopped in the middle of the busy street, picked up the dog, and taken it with me; but that was so far beyond normal acceptable behavior that it didn't occur to me. I parked and went back to the scene as quickly as I could, but the dog was gone.

Are you one of those types that agrees with punishing a person more harshly for beating the awww-look-how-cute-the-widdle-puppy-wuppy-is than for beating his child?

I guess the only thing that could have been done to to get the plate number and report it as a case of animal abuse. If at all possible I would have tried to grab the bird and give it to a wildlife or animal shelter.

Quote:
Are you one of those types that agrees with punishing a person more harshly for beating the awww-look-how-cute-the-widdle-puppy-wuppy-is than for beating his child?

Are you seriously suggesting that his rage would have been any less if he had seen a child tossed out the window? In any case what is wrong with feeling equal anger and frustration no matter who or what the abuse is targeted at?

I'm pissed off by how people treat animals in general. In particular it seems that people just don't know how to take care of dogs. Here's a tip: if you can't properly care for a dog, you're not ready to breed, so do us all a favor and don't.

While in college, I found a dog running out in the middle of a busy road. I pulled over and was eventually able to get it into the back of my car. I then took it home and let it out in my fenced-in backyard until I could figure out what to do with it. I started to consider keeping it, but I was a college student who was learning how to take care of myself So I found a local shelter and dropped it off there. I hope that it found a home and didn't end up being put down, but I did what I could do. I think the shelter was run by the humane society, so that made me feel a little better. While I had the dog, though, I pretty much figured out why they let it go. It had an absolute compulsion for humping legs. While I had it, that's all it would do. you could push it off, but it would come right back. What made it more confusing was that the shelter insisted that it was a female

So that was one of about four dogs that I've found running around in the middle of the road. I returned two more until I gave up. People in my neighborhood now are terrible at keeping their dogs on their property. I really want to tell them that they're going to kill their dog, and ask them if they care. I'm sorry, but some dogs just aren't smart enough to realize that the middle of an intersection is not where you should lie down.

I've always wondered. Why?

There are very few things that make me violent. Cruelty to children, animals, and women are my top 3. In that order. I guess the general vulnerability of the victim is what drives me to rage. Children and animals are on the same vulnerability scale, but I think abusing children is worse, since I hold humans in higher regard than animals. Women are less vulnerable, although the abuse is often extreme.

For the record, for me, mental and emotional abuse are equally foul. I once knew a guy that though he didn't ever lay a hand on his wife, kept her totally vulnerable constantly. Things like not allowing her to leave the house unless he was with her, not giving her a key to said house, giving her an extremely small "allowance", etc. It made me physically sick to look at him. What I don't and never will understand is whay she stayed. I mean, I get that their self-worth is chipped at until there is nothing left, but come on. There has to be a line somewhere.