Numberzzzz

I went online to the Maricopa County Animal Control Center to see if my local shelter would be able to call them on Saturday to verify my collie rescue's license tag so I wouldn't have to have him vaccinated again (which recent research has proven to be harmful). There was a link to the Maddie's Fund Statistics which said in 2007 26,193 dogs were euthanized out of an intake of 44,262. Of these, 13,843 were "unhealthy and untreatable." I was stunned. However, according to their 2007-2008 annual report, "Unfortunately we had to put down 31,055 animals; 12,990 treatable and manageable dogs and cats, 18,065 untreatable and unmanageable dogs and cats." The intake was 55,974. I think this is probably explained in the difference of the reporting period (calendar versus fiscal year), but either way the numbers are astounding. About thirty percent of the dogs were killed because they were "unhealthy and untreatable."

With all the reports of abandoned and turned in dogs this year because of the economy, the numbers are likely to be twice as high this year (and in fact MCACC says their intake has doubled in the past few months).

Bless the beasts and the children.

Disturbing News

Yesterday a 70-year-old Tucson woman was burned trying to rescue her 29 Yorkies because her house was on fire. Her son put out the fire on her hair and continued to try and rescue the dogs until an off-duty policeman who was driving by told him to stop. The son said he had to rescue the dogs because they were his mother's life. The woman was a breeder, but Pima County Animal Control took no action because there were no signs of neglect. She is in serious condition in a Phoenix burn unit. Four of the Yorkies died. The other dogs were taken in by neighbors and relatives. And the investigators said it clearly was arson.

(Photo from the Tucson Fire Department)

Almost as disturbing (but not related to animals) is the story of a Willcox restaurant that had racial grafitti painted on it yesterday (including swastikas) because the owner had a sign endorsing Barack Obama. Naively, I thought these things only happened in the deep south. The swastikas make me think it's young people who don't understand what happened in Nazi Germany, but I'm not an expert. The restaurant owner has received offers to help paint, but he says it doesn't cover up the problem and his business has suffered.

In times of desperation, people lash out at whatever can make them feel more powerful even though it hurts other people (and animals). All I can do is hope there will be many more stories of people coming together in "the best of times and the worst of times" as Charles Dickens wrote.