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Get
your
Chain Off 2007 Attire!
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Penny
Hann Woman
chains self to protest similar treatment of pets By
TINA MARIE MACIAS Despite the steady rain that fell on Pasadena, Penny Hann sat in her front yard Monday and did what she had promised: chained herself to a doghouse. "I said I would be out here in rain or shine," she said. "So here I am." Although she was under a blue canopy, water leaked onto Hann, one of the 104 people in 34 states who planned to chain themselves to doghouses in protest of the practice of keeping dogs on chains. "It's very inhumane to put a dog on a chain," she said. "They're pack animals and they don't understand why they can't be with the rest of the pack." Equipped with pamphlets and buttons to help educate passers-by, and a romance novel to help her pass the time, Hann, 51, put a black leather collar on herself at 6 a.m. and chained herself to a doghouse her husband built for their three dogs. She soon was joined by Mitzi, her dachshund, and her grandsons, Chase, 6, and Ethan, 10. The nonprofit group Dogs Deserve Better has organized the annual "Chain Off" around the July 4 holiday for five years. The organization, based in Tipton, Pa., gained some attention last year when founder Tammy S. Grimes was arrested in Pennsylvania after refusing to return a sick dog she had unchained, saying its life was in danger. The case is still pending. The largest Chain Off was in Atlanta this weekend, when representatives from nine states chained themselves to a doghouse in a dog park for 29 hours, the group said. Hann wants to do that next year. This year, however, the Deer Park Independent School District telephone operator settled for 12 hours of local attention. "Some of the neighbors have come by to say 'Hi,' " she said. "Some of them say I'm crazy." Although Hann said she doesn't see any animal abuse in her neighborhood, she planned to stay put until 6 p.m. — long enough to be seen by people going to work and returning home. "I just hope it will make people more aware of what's going on," she said. "I hope to raise enough money to save one dog's life." Hann said she has raised about $400 in the past three weeks through local and online donations. Although this is her first protest, she said she first became active in animal rights work a decade ago when she joined People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. Back then, she said, her husband, Rick, worked at a plant and would see truck drivers abandon their dogs there. "We'd take them in and feed them and take them to a vet," Hann said. "We've done that to four dogs."
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