I looked at the Sun-Telegraph this morning as I do every day. A letter to the Editor from Jan in Dalton expressed both the extended sentiment on Todd Hansel's crimes and wishes that he have the sound and memory of his actions for the rest of his life. So many people in the area have pets that are intentionally abandoned or discarded because the chew on things or get away and the owner's simply stop caring. A during a conversation with several staff and citizens after the meeting, Julie Young cited that 26 animals were put down last year. The majority of those put down were licensed animals, whose owners had ten days to reclaim them. Just because these animals were euthanized in a quiet manner doesn't excuse the neglect of the families who owned them. The lives of these animals could have been spared by caring enough to find a different home for them or by teaching the animal how to "play" in acceptable ways.
It took us a while to get our boxer to stop chewing on books, shoes, Christmas tree ornaments and so forth. She is a hellion at times; a joy to be around the other 99.9 percent of the time. She is still a puppy and occasionally exhibits puppy behavior, which can be distressing. Although I can discipline her now by voice command, but it took time and patience on both our parts to work out our detent. We love our dog and can not imagine not having her involved in our skiing, hiking and kayaking trips. She has an abundance of energy and she gives part of that energy to us.
Below is a response I left on their site and I am posting here for those who might be interested. So many animals are in the area that need a good home to give them need attention and love. If you are looking for a pet, contact the vet offices in the area or the shelter facilities. Find a pet for you and your family. Save their lives and enhance your own at the same time. Be patient and be sensible about what kind of animal you can tolerate. Perhaps more importantly, find an animal that can tolerate you. We did.
As an animal lover I would never tolerate seeing someone harm an animal. His actions will be judged and he will find a suitable punishment if convicted.
Asking or hoping someone should suffer for the rest of their lives might be considered torture. If I may, I believe your sentiment is really about learning from mistakes. Christian teaching says that we are to forgive our neighbor his trespasses. If you are of any sort of faith that holds life dear. pray he learns from his error and that in learning he understands why he did what he did, sacrifices of himself to demonstrate his sorrow and redeems himself by finally living a life that seems to have eluded him thus far.
People are tortured enough every day in this world. I have no understanding as to why he did what he did, or if he had ever done something similar in the past. Serving parole for a prior sentence after a period of incarceration tells us he has been affected by his actions for a considerable period of time.
In the understandable outrage those of us who love companion animals must feel, it is important that we do not become as he must have been: Blinded by anger. It would be no more right for us to wish him extraordinary harm for his actions any more than it was for him to bring about the harm he did upon Daisy that night.
Todd Hansel is a troubled man, no doubt about it. I don't like the particular crime he was charged with and find his actions abhorrent. Let him suffer the punishment that fits the crime. Let him also heal whatever wounds he has inflicted on himself, his family and understandably the community at large.
Michael Rowland,
pet of a boxer named Sierra who both tells me what to do and kicks my butt if I don't
I appreciate your writing on this topic and was wondering if you had more details about what numbers Julie Young presented at the meeting. Per the Sun -Telegraph: "Numbers presented by Sidney resident Julie Young showed a savings of over $4,000 per year if the city chose White Bluffs on certain boarding fees." I'm also very interested in the euthanasia rate you quoted above, particularly that most were licensed dogs, and was wondering if you had more details on that - was that something she presented during the meeting? Thanks for any info you could provide.
ReplyDeleteThe numbers Julie Young spoke of were derived by calculations she made by examining the actual billing records from the city police department.
ReplyDeleteIf you examine the records, most of the fees were in boarding animals. Since it takes seven days longer before you can put down a registered animal, that accounts for the additional fees. Comments made while discussing the issue outside council chambers reinforced this assertion.
Also, Major Aiken presented information that 16 animals had been put down last year. According to the billing records discussed with Ms. Young in the hall after the meeting, the number was actually 26. Major Aiken did not maintain the records prior to Chief Cox retiring. He did not dispute her count.