What a good day to make herbed roasted vegetables for lunch! This is one of those rare days when the dogs are quite content to snooze by the fire instead of heading out for a hike.
Even Rascal ... who has been unleashing his inner sheltie since this summer ... has not been further than five feet from the front step!
Sadly, not every dog in this province is lucky enough to be safe and snug inside today. Little Suzy, pictured above, spent her entire life living outside until the kind hearts at PET Projects found her in a Kijiji ad and ponied up for the purchase price :( Lucky for Suzy she wasn't a success as a hunter so that her owner was willing to part with her!
Truth be told, PET Projects have been leading the way in the province with respect to anti tethering advocacy. Shelly Hipson's kind heart will not let her look the other way and refuses to wait for "someday" !
Did PET Projects succeed in their efforts to embed anti tethering clauses in the new Dog Bylaw in Shelbourne? Sadly no ... or I should say ... not yet. Still, their efforts have opened the dialogue so that the subject will be revisited by their Council.
This is not new ground for them ... the sad picture at the top of my sidebar is of Noah .. who was one of the first chained dogs rescued by PET Projects. Noah had lived his whole life outside and was so frightened of the world that it took hours and hours to coax him out of that horrible little house when Noah's elderly owner passed away.
Why do people chain and pen dogs? For some, dogs are viewed as property with a pulse ... and they see no problem in treating animals in the same way their Daddy did!
Others believe that ... after the puppy was not trained or socialized properly ... that it is actually more humane to sentence these unruly youngsters to life on the end of a chain than to explore other options!
How can such embedded ideas be changed? The same way every single other socially unacceptable practice has been changed ... with the law!
When I first moved out here, a two four was the most common armrest in pickup trucks! Why did that change? Did these fellas wake up one morning and realize they were on the wrong path?
Of course not! If penalties and checkpoints had not increased LaBatts would still be making their armrests!
But I am wandering afield, as I often do in my meandering way. Right here, right now, if you think that Anti tethering legislation does NOT need to be a priority, then I challenge you to go sit outside in your car for a few hours.
You can even wear your mittens and coat. Bring a cup of water out with you and watch how quickly it freezes. Take a cold snack out with you and see how well that warms you up! Oh ... and turn your cell phone off so that you can get the full benefit of the utterly antisocial experience!
Not your cup of tea? Well, if we could only understand them, all chained and penned dogs would say exactly the same thing!
What time is it? It is always time to remind the politicians whom we have elected that support for anti tethering legislation will win them more votes than they would lose. It is always time to remember that the way ahead for the animals who cannot speak for themselves will only ever be paved with strong voter feedback!
I have always held firmly to the thought that each one of us can do a little to bring some portion of misery to an end. Albert Schweitzer
And that is how I see it on Wednesday, January 4th .... the FORTY - NINTH day since the dismissed shelter manager and the disbanded board created the renegade shelter.
1 comment:
Thank you Janet. Together we can do our part to change the world and make it a better place. Awareness...Education...Legislation/By-Laws = a better life for dogs and people. Caring people are distressed to see these dogs in their communities...and it's hard to report so I feel that 238 reported chained dogs is very low in comparison to the actual numbers living amongst us in Nova Scotia. People often call our local group but will not call the NS SPCA. Often the comment is "they visited and nothing changed." This is the sad part; we take the risk of being found out by the dog owner that it was us and bare that burden of confrontation for the sake of the dog and the dog STILL remain outside. They may get a longer rope or a flap on the door, but they still live their life abandoned in a back yard. We need to change this at the local level. We want results. Dogs deserve better than a life on a chain. Shelly, Volunteer with www.petpojects.ca
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