Sep
25
2007
Vigilante dog justice
Author:After rescuing five cats and briefly taking in a dog last year, I’m only now realizing that I can’t save every mistreated, abandoned or stray animal who wanders in my path. At five cats currently, our house is probably at the city’s legal limit for pets, anyway.
I might have mentioned this before, but we have three generations of hillbillies inhabiting the three houses flanking ours. Yes, imagine. Hillbillies in Kentucky. The day the grand hillbilly matriarch placed a “for sale” sign in her front yard, we celebrated with hopes the others would follow suit. Unfortunately, the housing market around here has softened and they still haven’t sold.
You would think a single mother with two kids on welfare whom we secretly believe to be mentally challenged and who cannot even afford a car, would need the responsibility of a pet like a hole in the head. Yet the hillbilly girl across the street has done exactly that. An adorable Boxer puppy is now chained to a leash tied to an old basketball net in their driveway. No grass. No water. Scarcely any food.
I first saw the dog yesterday, when its incessant barking interrupted my workday at home. The poor thing craves human attention. He’s a very sweet dog, well-tempered and would make a great pet, I bet. Unfortunately, he’s been “adopted” by an owner who doesn’t take good care of him. Yesterday his chain was wrapped up in a crack in the driveway, and the poor thing could hardly move three inches, let alone reach the empty water bowl. Might I mention, it topped a record high of 98 degrees yesterday.
Calling animal control will do no good; they’re overstretched and understaffed as it is. I’m thinking a covert rescue mission is in order.
