“The reality is, it’s not illegal to kill your own animal in Canada. Someone can take a gun and shoot their dog in the head and as long as the dog dies instantly, unfortunately there’s no law against that.”

This telling quote is from Lori Chortyk, general manager of community relations for the BC SPCA, responding to outrage over the death of a pot-bellied pig who was killed and eaten by her owners less than one month after she was adopted from the BC SPCA where she was nursed back to health. Tragically, during the adoption and matching process, the couple who adopted the pig Molly even put in writing “No, I will never use this animal for food.” Yet, even after the process and an investigation, nothing could be done to hold the owners accountable for Molly’s death. The investigation determined that the pig didn’t die in a way that would be considered inhumane and would lead to animal cruelty charges.

One argument that is being made by people angry at Molly’s death is that this would never happen to cats or dogs. Pigs are intelligent animals that are unjustly treated. This still doesn’t quite reveal the extent of the problem though. The bottom line is articulated by Chortyk: “pets are considered property.” If your animal is considered an object you can do with the animal what you want with it, provided a line isn’t crossed that the law considers too far. The process of the BC SPCA is sadly lacking in its ability to do anything meaningful to protect animals because it’s not legally binding. Animal cruelty laws may protect animals from unnecessary cruelty, but they don’t protect them from the every-day cruelty of being treated as objects for human consumption.

Read more about this story here: https://globalnews.ca/news/4042125/pig-adopted-bc-spca-killed-eaten-owners/

According to a viral video that sparked outrage on the internet, New York police killed a raccoon in the most inhumane way by running the animal over repeatedly with their vehicles. The woman who shared the videos reported that it took 15 minutes for the animal to die. The police have said they didn’t want to shoot the raccoon because it was in a populated area, and the animal is claimed to have been rabid.

For a death this painful and prolonged, we have scarce information to justify it. It is a persistent problem that police are allowed to respond to threats with less than adequate caution and respect for human and animal life. Animals’ lives are easily devalued in situations where they are seen as merely a “threat”, and officers can act violently without consequence. The Department of Environmental Conservation is reportedly investigating the death. We hope for answers…

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/video-coeymans-new-york-officers-running-over-raccoon/

How could a well-liked science teacher trusted and respected by his students, feed a puppy to a snapping turtle? Such is the cognitive dissonance of our attitude to animal cruelty. On the one hand the teacher is well-liked enough that he can gain 3,000 signatures in his support (a petition for his firing has many more signatures). On the other hand he thought nothing of the suffering of the puppy he allegedly fed to the snapping turtle. The way the incident has been handled similarly speaks volumes about how people disregard animals’ lives. The teacher’s snapping turtle has been euthanized since the incident, apparently because authorities couldn’t find a home for it. Because of human drama, two animals have lost their lives.

Neither the teacher’s treatment of the puppy or the authorities handling of the incident makes much sense in the context of their own values. A trusted and well-loved teacher who seems to have cared for his students didn’t think how his teaching methods could be cruel. Community authorities sacrificed a second animal in pursuit of “what’s right.” In both cases, the animals’ themselves didn’t seem to matter.

You can read more about this story, here: http://www.idahostatesman.com/news/local/article205430089.html

After one year locked in a cell while his family battled to free him, a dog named Bandit was scheduled to be killed on March 2nd. The City of Aurora animal shelter kept the dog in a concrete cell, where it’s claimed he became depressed and put on weight. Meanwhile, his family fought against the city’s decision to kill him after an incident where a FedEx driver was hurt.

What’s heartbreaking is that his family were given less than 24 hours’ notice to say goodbye before he was due to be euthanized. This, after an emotionally draining year of fighting for their fourteenth amendment rights and proposing a number of non-violent solutions to rehabilitate and re-train Bandit. Yet still, the city chose to defend its position and kill the dog.

The issue keeping the city locked in a conflict that seems needlessly cruel to both owners and dog, is the dog’s breed. The dog was adopted by the owners as a boxer mix, but a test by the city (which an animal law expert has said is flawed) determined that the dog was 100 percent Staffordshire Terrier. Staffordshire Terriers are a type of “pit bull” dog, which are banned in Aurora. In a lawsuit brought by the family of the dog, they claimed their rights were violated as they were forced to plead in criminal proceedings that they were harboring a “dangerous dog.” They are originally from Russia and English is not their first language. As a result, they claimed they didn’t understand they would be forfeiting their dog’s life with the plea. The dog was surprised by a FedEx driver who backed off and received an alarmed snap from the dog. The driver was treated for injuries that apparently weren’t serious. It’s easy to see how a dog would react like this, but the city has chosen to remain hardline on the conclusion that his breed “caused” the attack.

Across the US and elsewhere pit bull bans are being challenged and research is increasingly demonstrating that breed doesn’t play a big role in animals’ threat to people. What the city of Aurora is clinging on to is prejudice and punishment, rather than law and order. Can such arbitrary violence, emotional heartache and wasted resources really be for the greater good? The city had plenty of options to work with the family on this and they didn’t. It remains to be seen if bad publicity and legal action will convince them that violence can only cause more violence.

Please see the following article for more details: http://www.westword.com/news/accused-pit-bull-bandit-to-be-put-to-death-in-aurora-colorado-10048715

The suffering of a golden retriever who was horribly bludgeoned to death by Chinese police has caught the attention of the global internet recently. Two people reportedly had minor injuries after the dog bit them. The police officer wasn’t armed with a tranquilizer gun and claimed he was justified in protecting public safety when he beat the dog to death with a wooden club slowly over 3 hours, according to reports. PETA says the killing was witnessed by onlookers including young children. Video footage and pictures showing the death of the dog drew a huge outcry on social media. Reports describe the pain of the dog as it died. On the sidewalk where the dog was tied up, there is now a shrine with candles and flowers. The death of the golden retriever was portrayed by the Chinese police as a necessary evil to remove a threat to people. Rather than a humane killing though, witnesses and viewers of the images and video experienced it as extreme violence and trauma. This animal killing clearly shows how violence affects everyone it touches – and now that people have access to images and videos even thousands of miles away, it reaches even wider. The violence to the dog far outweighs any public threat, and if anything there’s a sense in which it has now done lasting emotional damage to anyone unfortunate enough to witness it. If there can be any positive impact from the death of this poor defenseless animal, it’s to send the message that violence like this is never necessary.

Please read the news and share:

http://metro.co.uk/2018/01/03/policeman-bludgeoned- golden-retriever- death-street- bit-two- people-7200934/

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5228433/Golden- retriever-dies- beaten-policeman.html