On Animals + Abuse

I had an entirely different post set up for today, but I haven’t been able to stop thinking about two particular dogs all weekend. And no, they are not even my own dogs (though Judy & Bill are never far from the forefront of my thoughts…

I’m talking about these dogs. The two that died after their owner threw them off a cliff here on Oahu earlier this year.

Some amazing citizens found them after she left them for dead, but it was too late. One had already died and the other was so badly injured, he was later euthanized. If it happened earlier this year, why am I so mad about it now? Well the woman who did this was sentenced this weekend. Her punishment? A $400 fine.

$400 dollars. That’s it. I’ll be straight with you – I can spend $400 in a single trip to Costco, so when I found out that is what her consequence was for doing such an evil act – I was downright pissed.

I posted this on Instagram over the weekend, but I stand by what I said and I think it bears repeating here: 

“While I get that there are many other important things to worry about this world today, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about the pure evil it takes to develop and execute a plan like this. The reality is this — dogs have all the good qualities of humans and none of the bad ones. While we have jobs, hobbies and friends — our pets have us; we are their world. They depend on us for everything and in turn, love us without condition of expectation, which is something the world could use a little bit more of these days, don’t you think?” 

I slept terribly on Saturday night and on Sunday, I woke up and still had the dogs on my mind. What can be done about something like this? I really had no idea, but my dad suggested I write to my senators, so I did. I wrote that inhumane crimes are crimes against humanity and asked what type of precedent was being set? I inquired what sort of message we were sending to animal abusers and how abuse like this is a felony, not a slap on the wrist. If you’re local and want to write, you can contact Brian Schatz or Mazie Hirono.

What sickens me more about this entire situation is that this woman had options. There are shelters, there are people seeking to adopt and there are rescue groups. THROWING THESE POOR ANIMALS OFF THE SIDE OF A SEASIDE CLIFF SHOULD HAVE NEVER BEEN ON THAT LIST. 

As you can see, I’m still pretty torn up about this, but aside from donating to shelters, writing my senators and volunteering – what else can be done? I’m at a little bit of a loss and feeling downright helpless. 

As a human race, we are better than this.