Animal Abuse I

This picture is going to hit home to all the animal lovers out there.
And the story behind it... well... is the whole reason that this pic is going up in the first place.

Many, many moons ago I had cat named Isis. He was about one and a half years old when he was killed. This dog, who lives (living being a very loose term, enslaved is more like it) behind me is who is believed to be the murderer. I had my suspicions of this confirmed recently. So that's why the pictures were taken originally, to perserve my cat's honor, to get the vengeance deserved.

So the clues were uncovered, and the photography began. I brought a little table with me, the zoom lens, and peeked over the fence, the whole time clenching my fists, thinking that this would finally be it. The camera was propped on the fence in the least revealing way possible for the owners of the dog, and I began to snap. I didn't know what I was going to really see, but I had figured that I could see enough.

I was far too correct.
Far, far too correct.

The yard was a complete mess, like a tornado had picked up a BFI bin and dumped it in their back. There were glass bottles everywhere, broken, shattered, amid grass tall enough to be wheat. The remnants of smashed plastic toys, signs that children have been present in this hellish place. Rusted lawnmowers decorated the back part, overturned with blades ready to be trodden over, and ankles to be cut. It was more like a mine-field, landfill combination, and this is where they had this dog chained up.

Before the first shutter click, I had to take another breath and look over the yard again, specifically the pen that the poor beast was chained up in. There was a foundation tie hammered far into the ground that had about a four foot length of chain attached to it and the dog's throat. He didn't really have a collar, just a choke set up with the chain so that he couldn't pull too hard without strangling himself. About 6 feet away, there was wheelless radio flyer, full of water, that the dog tried so desperately to get, but couldn't.

There is a story about a Greek god who once punished someone by never letting him touch the water when he was thirsty. This sounds similar.

Other than that, there was no water, or food, within site.

The ground that he was forced to stay on, day and night, was as bare as a desert. And I promise that the Memphis summertime gets about that hot. He just sat there panting, tongue touching the sand, letting the flies eat away at his festering sores.

So I was stuck there, arguing with myself, because once someone saw the poor conditions of this dog's living situation, I knew that they would put the dog down. But it isn't the dog's fault that he has such piss-poor owners, who abuse him.

Regardless, I took the photos, and saw his bloody ears, his torn face, the boards directly beside him w/ two inch nails sticking up, his perpetual 4 foot radial prison, his lack of water, his patchy fur between skin and sores, his empty stomach, his struggle to get out, to survive better, but he's stuck, and nothing can be done.

But something can be done.

On Monday, I am going to call the police and advise them of this. I am going to tell them that this dirty fucking, purely inhumane disgusting excuse for a human being is torturing this dog. Not only that, but I am going to tell them that he's violent, that he killed my cat and that they let him out to do this. I am going to tell them that it's not only the dog being abused, but anyone who lives in that house must be.

How could someone live like this?
How could someone treat another living creature like this?
How could someone be so utterly cruel?

I don't know either, but hopefully they are going to learn.
Hopefully they'll be arrested and put behind bars for a long time.

I hate to see the dog euthanized, but he's a killer, and no killer should be free.
And finally, I will believe that my cat can rest in peace.
And finally, a little more bad will be taken from this place.






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Addendum - 7/19/06 -
Afer a while, the dog was eventually taken from this place, and chances are, due to its' aggressive nature, he was probably put down. Now, although that's not the option that I would've opted for, the truth is that I would rather not live the rest of my days in a 4 foot radius. It would be imprisonment. But for anyone wondering, something was done.