Monday, August 13, 2007
Suffer The Little Idiots
Most of my adult life I’ve had jobs dealing with tourists. And because of that, I realize that just way too many people are mind numbingly stupid. Regardless, I try to make excuses for people...try to be objective. Example, where I work now, we sometimes have people, standing at the entrance to the dock, the entrance they came through earlier, stopped cold and ask if they can just run back to their car real quick for something they forgot, (camera, sun screen, hat, whatever.) A number of my co-workers will tell the tourist that of course they can and then grumble under their breath about how stupid people are. Now, I try to see it this way: A lot of parks and such in this country will not let you re-enter and I think that is the mindset these tourists have. It’s not that they are stupid, they’ve just been programmed. I try to apply this way of thinking to anyone I encounter, believe it or not. It may not come across that way here but the people I write about on this site, the annoying experiences I’ve had, are when people have been stupid beyond recognition or been assclowns about their own stupidity.
Having said that, there are times I make no concessions at all. Sometimes, there is absolutely zero excuse for someone doing what they’ve done. Every single summer for the past eleventy hundred years, we have seen news stories about yet another crayon leaving their pet in the car while they run in to a store to do some shopping. Recently, Dear Abby had a letter from someone begging her to inform the masses not to do this. (As if we haven’t already been informed of the dangers of this thousands upon thousands of times.) Per a Captain for the Los Angeles SPCA:
..."Leaving a dog in a car can be considered neglect or abuse. There are laws governing cruelty to animals, and enforcement of those laws would fall under local jurisdiction."
But there are still idiots out there who think they are smarter than everyone else and who are beyond selfish and continue to do this shit.
Rachel Lucas posted this on her site but rather than hi-jack her comments, I’m going to have my full say about the matter, here.
What Can Happen To You If You Leave Your Dog In The Car
....On July 31, Smith responded to a call that Cyrus, a 50-kg Rottweiler, was locked in an overheated car. The Toronto Humane Society investigator smashed through the car window, rescued the dying dog, who was slumped and foaming at the mouth, and handcuffed the irate owner to the car. He then rushed the dog to a hospital, leaving the man there handcuffed until police arrived on the scene.
“I was trying to perform my job to the best of my abilities given a very difficult, threatening and abusive situation,” said Smith.
But reports soon followed that the handcuffed dog owner was beaten by the crowd and was bleeding when police arrived, so the Ontario SPCA has hired a retired Ontario Provincial Police officer to probe the incident and determine whether Smith had followed proper protocol or overstepped his limits...
Kids. There is no excuse for this. You do not leave your animals, or your children for that matter, in the car while your ass goes shopping. This is not something new. We are not ignorant to how hot it can get inside a vehicle, especially in the summer. We have been informed time and time again. We have been receiving this, it has been pounded in to our heads for years. YEARS! There is absolutely no damn excuse for doing this. I don’t give two rat shits if you just wanted to “run in to the store really quick” because if you’ve ever been shopping anywhere, there is no such thing as “really quick”. It doesn’t take long for the animal to start suffering....by the time you’ve locked the car, put your keys in your pocket and strolled across the parking lot to the front doors of the store, your animal is already starting to suffer. It is time to stop being so fucking selfish. If you need to go to the store, take the dog home. I don’t care if the store is “on the way home”, take the dog home and come back to the store you self centered assholes.
So, this pet rescuer guy gets the poor dog out of the hot car, hand cuffs the owner of the dog and car to the car and takes off. Now, some people question the situation. I think the situation has been laid out pretty clearly in this article. The owner was “irate”. The situation was “very difficult, threatening and abusive”. Now, again, I’m all for giving someone the benefit of the doubt but to assume that the owner was coming back to save the dog is bullshit. The idea that the pet rescuer guy just left him there to feel the suffering of the heat for himself is bullshit. It clearly states that the pet rescuer guy broke the window, got the dog out, the owner was irate, the situation was threatening and abusive, pet rescuer guy handcuffed the owner to his own car and rather than stand there waiting for the police to show up, (it could take hours), he raced off to get the dying dog to the vet hoping to save its life. I’ve watched enough Animal Planet’s Animal Cops to know that these pet rescuer people are more often than not supposed to call the police to have the police come get the perps. Some have the ability to transport these cock smokers to the police station but most are there to rescue the animals and have the police do the arresting and transporting. Now, the article doesn’t say the pet rescuer guy called the police nor does it say he didn’t. It simply says that the guy was left handcuffed to the car until the police arrived. Now, if the crowd was beating his ass, I’m going to make a bet that the crowd isn’t the one who called the police. I’m going to bet it was the pet rescuer guy. He just didn’t want to risk the dog losing his life while waiting for the police to get there.
The crowd that gathered was probably already there. I’m sure it wasn’t just those two in the parking lot and then thugs came up and took advantage of a handcuffed guy...they probably witnessed the entire event and pummeled the crap out of the owner when the pet rescuer left. (Agreed, pet rescuer guy should have thought of that outcome but he probably didn’t think that would happen.) I’m sure there were words exchanged and owner guy couldn’t keep his stupid yap shut. The scene grew more intense, anger spilled over and next thing ya know, he’s getting his ass beat down.
Now, the rational side of me says they shouldn’t have done that. They should have let the law take care of him. But another part of me says I understand why they did it. You do NOT. leave. your animal. in the car. to suffer while you go shopping. There is NO excuse for that. At all. And, most of those people, as I, know that the laws are not harsh enough for those who do this to animals. They will probably get a small fine, a feather light slap on the wrist, have their dog taken away and that is it. That is not harsh enough as far as I’m concerned and the crowd knew that as well. I’m not saying I would beat the guy’s ass....I would berate the hell out of him for sure and I would stand there and watch him get arrested, screaming at him until the police threatened to arrest me if I didn’t pipe down, but this crowd knew he wouldn’t get what the punishment he deserved.
And even though the crowd probably shouldn’t have handed the guy his own ass, I’ll bet he doesn’t leave a dog in the car again. I’m torn on the outcome. I know why we have courts and laws and I agree we should have them....but there is that part that understands the publics’ desire to take the law in to their own hands. Unfortunately, until the laws get harsher, people will continue to view pets as objects and treat them however they wish. People treat their cars better than they treat their pets.
As it stands, there is an investigation in to the matter and I agree there should be one. But I have a strong feeling that my summary is pretty damn close to accurate. I’ll let you know if I see any updates about it. And if I’m wrong, if pet rescuer was just trying to be an asshole to the owner, ok, I’ll admit that. But I don’t think I’m wrong. And I think that other people would have done the same or similar in that situation. It’s always easy to sit back, in our comfortable chairs and assess the situation and state the person should have done this or that. But until we are IN those situations, we really don’t know what the fuck we are talking about. Some situations are not as easy as they appear on paper. Plain and simple.
