by Nancy E. Hassel, LIPetPlace.com

My heart broke when I saw Queenie’s picture on Facebook.  I quickly read the caption, and thought she was actually dead from the horrific picture posted – her body being skin and bones.  I couldn’t look more than a few seconds at it, thinking who would ever do something like that to a dog?  Then I thought back to Joey, the 3 month old pit bull puppy who was thrown from a moving car last year, or the little puppy I met a couple years ago who had mangled back legs from being a bait dog for a dog fighting here on Long Island.  Or some of you might even remember Maximus the pit bull who was set on fire and chained up in Brentwood, who later succumb to his unimaginable injuries – his owner went to jail – he could be out by now.  The really sad truth is that these stories come up way to often in our culture, here on Long Island and throughout our country.  I always try to shine a light on those amazing people doing good in the world for pets – who make a difference locally in pet’s and human’s lives.  But seeing Queenie’s picture, made me so sad, sick to my stomach and incredibly mad – there is no longer a reason to remain silent on this issue.

Why does our society continue to let this happen?  We have laws in place against animal abuse – but obviously they are not scary enough consequences for people who are the scum of the earth to not do these things.  We have all read how studies of animal abusers often and most times lead to human abusers – so why isn’t more done to stop these people?

When will our society rise up and demand better solutions for animal abusers?  I am not talking about people who don’t know the best or proper care for their pets that need education on the matter, (that is a whole different topic).  I am talking about demanding more serious consquences for people who do things like they did to Queenie, Joey, Maximus and countless other pets who are killed, tormented and tortured.  Will her owner, once he is caught, get a year or two in jail then released?  Will he get fined, a slap on the wrist?  How will they track this guy from ever owning a pet again?

The fact that Queenie survived and is eating, and walking is a miracle and shows the sheer determination and depth of a dogs will to live and persevere.  Joey too, after months of rehabilitation, he now is doing amazingly well considering his injuries.  That is, as animal lovers what we gravitate towards – how resilient our pets are.

We know there are more good people in the world than bad, especially when it comes to our pets and animals, and many people want to help.  If you can’t directly help Queenie or Guardians of Rescue who stepped in to help save her, there are many great organizations on Long Island that can use additional volunteers, donations.  But the one thing I would ask you to do, is not to look away, not to turn your head – our society often ‘doesn’t want to know’ when it comes to animal abuse or horrible situations like this.  I get it, my first reaction was to not look, but mainly because I am in the pet industry and sadly see things like this more often then not via social media and the press.  But looking away or not wanting to know will not help solve the epidemic of animal abuse.  Think about how you can help make a difference so we start to see less of this.

Show this to your kids and show them how wrong it is and ask them what they think can be done to help turn around lack of respect for our pets, animals and world we share with them.  Call you local politician and demand better punishment for people who abuse animals.  Take a stand and work with local organizations to help protect our animals that depend on us.

Comments are closed.