My German Shepherd, Luca, was there with me through it all. Yes, she is just a dog, however, she is my dog. Most, if not all, dog owners can relate. There are few things better in this world than that palpable bond between a man and his dog.
Obviously, French animal-rights group, Cause Animale Nord, disagrees.
A video has gone viral of the group seizing a Chow puppy from a homeless man in central Paris this past week.
The distraught homeless man can be seen and heard as he is wrestled to the ground by one member of Cause Animale Nord while his partner grabbed the whimpering animal.
This is utterly ridiculous for two reasons.
First, in taking the puppy, the group broke its own rules. Cause Animale Nord's rescuing policy commands the group give the owner notice before seizing any pet. Cause Animale Nord has since defended its actions, despite the group’s insubordination of their policy, because of the “urgency” of the situation. The group stated that the puppy’s pupils were dilated and it was drugged while under the care of the homeless man.
If the dog was truly in harm and showing such obvious signs of being sedated or out of it, wouldn’t bystanders and witnesses — many of whom strongly disagreed with Cause Animale Nord’s actions — at least stop and ask if everything was alright with the Chow? No, the public chose not to say anything, instead what they have done is create a petition on the website Change.org (one that has been signed by over 150,000) with the objective of forcing an investigation into the animal group.
Someone tweeted something about a homeless person having his puppy taken away from him. I couldn't even watch the video. I'm so upset.
— megan ☮ (@awakenedlmj) October 1, 2015
Second, this group claimed the animal from its owner, believing they could provide a better home. While that may be true to an extent, this puppy would certainly eat better and be given a more stable way of life, however, there is no doubt the constant attention and compassion it received from its homeless owner (who had nothing besides that dog) will not be present at any shelter.
And that is just the best-case scenario for animals in a shelter. The alternative is quite a bit more disturbing but just as common.
With 3,500 animal shelters in the U.S., there are between six and eight million dogs and cats entering shelters each year, with this puppy now joining that statistic. Of those cats and dogs, a staggering 2.7 million go without adoption every year, with over a million dogs subjected to euthanasia.
A recent study showed that dogs actually biochemically bond with their owners in the same way that humans bond with each other. Oxytocin, an extremely powerful naturally occurring hormone that produces feelings of love and affection, and is released when a dog looks its owner in the eyes.
What this animal-rights group chose to do was heart-breaking, literally, heart-breaking.
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Jeff Flake is no friend to animals
Reach the columnist at spencerhann1995@gmail.com or follow @spencer_hann on Twitter.
Editor’s note: The opinions presented in this column are the author’s and do not imply any endorsement from The State Press or its editors.
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