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February
14, 2007
Even
as I felt the sting of the wind-whipped sleet against my cheeks,
I couldn’t get his face out of my mind. It was less than half-way
through the day, and the winter storm raged, another night of snow
and bitter cold was promised. I wondered how he would survive through
the night. I pondered how his family could leave him alone today,
of all days, in this wicked weather. I could only guess how he must
feel.
Did
he get enough to eat today?
What
would he use for a bed tonight?
Could
he see that inside the house, just a few feet away from him, that
the rest of his family were warm and safe and dry?
The
snow and ice had begun to accumulate on top of his head, the hair
gray with his advancing years, and he stood and stared at the house.
When he noticed I was looking at him, he hung his head and slunk
inside the door of his humble abode. He had growled a word or two
to warn me that although humbled by his plight in life, he still
had the proud soul of his youth. My heart ached for him and the
others like him that I would see all over town today, despite the
ravages of this frigid winter day. His was the fate of a permanently
chained dog.
The
majority of us made our way through the cold and snow of this winter
storm and recovered from whatever unpleasantness that it heaved
upon us in the warmth of our homes, many of us in the company of
our family and friends. Some of us never had to leave the safety
and security of our houses and apartments. Yet for many dogs in
this community, the day was one of the worse, and the wind and the
snow had no end. There was no respite from the sleet and cutting
bitter cold – only another long lonely day and night at the
end of a chain. Tethered to a plastic mound or wooden house, these
dogs are forced to live a life of deprivation at the end of a chain
– and to what purpose?
Most
of us can instantly think of a dog that we know that lives like
this – isolated from the family that he sees as his pack, left
to survive alone in the scourges of Indiana weather, some of the
worst which we all experienced this past week. It is doubtful that
many of these families that routinely neglect and ignore these dogs
found the time or desire to comfort them in the midst of this winter
storm. These dogs are forgotten in the best of weather. What purpose
does a permanently chained dog serve? It cannot serve as a protector,
a companion, or a helpmate.
In
conditions like those Richmond experienced in this winter storm,
permanently chained dogs do well to survive. Most all of those in
our city that are experienced in animal welfare work will tell you
that winter conditions like the one we have just experienced routinely
take the lives of these tethered dogs. It is time that we call an
end to this practice in our community.
I
took the old fellow I saw standing in the cold and snow a few dog
biscuits and prayed that he would make it through another night
of frigid temperatures and survive despite the even colder hearts
of his so-called caretakers. I know that the chance exists that
after the storm subsides I will not see him, that the ravages of
this storm were too much for his old body to endure. While we may
not be able to save him, we can save others like him by changing
the laws in our community and ending the practice of permanently
chaining dogs. Man’s best friends need not be the forgotten
victims of the next winter storm.
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