Monday, July 19, 2004
Drowning Dewey
Last week there was a story about a cute little kitten now named Nemo who was rescued by some boaters off the Florida coast. The cat was found three miles off the coast. Now, everyone was oohing and aahing and saying how precious and cute it all was and yes, the story had a very happy ending. But did anyone ask how the hell did that kitten get out there in the first place? Kittens don’t just go for swims. Someone put that cat there. “Well maybe he fell off a boat.� Then why didn’t the owners conduct a search and/or claim the kitten when the kitten was rescued? Because that’s b.s. Sorry to burst your feel good bubble but the simple explanation is that someone dumped that cat out there….and who knows how many other kittens from the litter…that didn’t make it. How else did that cat get out there?
Today I received a link from Mamamontezz about the drowning of a dog. I’m getting so sick of hearing stories about people doing disgusting things to animals/pets.
Erin Wylie, 27, of Portsmouth, N.H., and Shannon Walters, 33, of Newmarket, N.H., allegedly drove into Maine on May 18 and broke into the Eliot home of Patrick Collins, at the time Wylie’s boyfriend. Police say they stole Collins’ computer and a camera, but that was only to make it look like a run-of-the-mill burglary. Their real target was Dewey. For reasons that have yet to be fully explained, Wylie had apparently decided that the pup was getting in the way of the relationship.
Ah yes. Children in the way of relationships? Drown them in the lake and tell the nation you were carjacked. Pets in the way of relationships? Drown them in the bathtub at home and tell everyone you did it in the name of mercy.
Into the bag with the rest of the loot went Dewey - with a sock over his head. Arriving back at Wylie’s apartment in Portsmouth, Wylie allegedly filled the bathtub and persuaded Walters to drown the dog.
Not pissed off enough yet? Keep reading.
Waters’ attorney, Phillip Desfosses of Portsmouth, told the court that Dewey’s untimely death was in fact a “mercy killing."
Mercy killing?
"That’s what I said,” Desfosses repeated Friday. “I believe it will come out during the trial that this was something that happened that neither of them intended. They were putting the dog out its misery."
If this dog were truly in need of a “mercy killing�, if this dog were truly miserable, the proper way to take care of that is to take the dog to the vet and have the dog euthanized. That is mercy killing. Drowning a dog is anything but merciful. Do you know what happens during a drowning?
When drowning begins, the larynx (an air passage) closes involuntarily, preventing both air and water from entering the lungs…within three minutes of submersion most people are unconscious, and within five minutes the brain begins to suffer from lack of oxygen….
Very painful. Three to five minutes of excruciating pain and this attorney dares to call this a ‘mercy killing’.
"This case has gotten so blown out of proportion it’s unbelievable,” he said. “It’s a dog. It’s not a child. It’s not a human being. It’s an animal. And we kill animals every day - and we eat them."
First of all, since it is apparent that this fool did not pay attention in 5th grade science, human beings are animals! There are two kingdoms: Plant Kingdom and Animal Kingdom. Human beings and this dog belong to the animal kingdom.
Second, hunting for meat or killing a cow for dinner is not even remotely close to the same thing as taking your boyfriend’s dog and drowning it in the bathtub because your psychotic mind thinks the dog is interfering with the relationship. Animal cruelty is not something to be dismissed, taken lightly, shooed away with a wave of a hand because, “We eat meat every day!� No. When someone does this to an animal, their potential to do similar to a human being rises dramatically. (Read here, here and here for statements and conclusions made by FBI, local police, government, psychiatrists, etc. regarding this matter.) These are not meat producers or hunters, these are criminals. There is an enormous difference.
This case is not blown out of proportion because the people understand that these two are criminals. The people are putting bumper stickers on their cars, signing petitions and not letting this case be pushed aside because they are as sick of hearing about these stories and people getting mere slaps on the wrist as I am. That is why this is getting the attention it is getting. It takes a very, twisted and sick mind to do something like this and again, the potential for those crimes to be escalated to the children and human beings that Desfosses cares about, increases.
When people start to realize that animals are not just here for their pleasure, to be used and then tossed aside when it gets too hard or expensive or “in the way of their relationship� or, in some cases, because some think it’s funny, then we will start to see people taking cases like this far more seriously.
"A pet is more than just property. It’s a life."
That is the point, exactly.
And by the way, anyone who thinks this is funny has some serious mental issues and needs to seek psychiatric help immediately.
