Just read a story in USA Today (not exactly a bastion of accurate reporting, but hey, I was on the pot and it was handy) about a man convicted of a felony for killing a dog. The dog’s owner rear-ended him in traffic, he got mad and yanked the dog (Leo) out of her lap and threw it onto the road, where it was killed. Okay, obviously the guy was cruel to the dog, and he deserves what he’s getting. Lock him up.
But the story goes on to say that animal lovers had contributed $120,000 to the “Leo Reward Fund.” What the hell? The story doesn’t say what the reward fund is for, nor does it say how many people contributed. But that’s just ridiculous. A dog is killed by an idiot, and people send in $120,000? What were these people thinking? If they’ve got money burning a hole in their pocket, let them send it to me. I’ll use it to buy food for my (still-living) dog.
One other note: If the woman in the story (who is portrayed as a serious dog-lover) was driving around with the dog on her lap, isn’t that dangerous to the dog?
Here we go again… There is another thread about the same thing in MPSIMS (I believe) right now and one a few months ago when this happened.
If animal lovers all over the country donate $5 to the fund, it adds up.
If it were my dog I would give as much money as it took to catch the guy. My dog is like my child. I would beat the guy to a pulp if I caught him then turn him in.
As far as being in her lap it was apparently a small dog. It could have been in the passenger seat and jumped on her lap when the guy approcahed her window.
And lastly if it wasn’t your money involved in the $120,00 why should you give a fuck?
[sub]the ‘you’ in this post is not directed towards Sauron but rather all of the people who disagree with the reward offered to capture this sick individual[/sub]
It’s no skin off my teeth if animal lovers want to donate bucks to a fund. Having said that, I love my dog, but I ain’t about to send somebody $5 because theirs died.
But I must be missing something about this. I thought the guy was cited on the spot by the cops. Was he a fugitive from justice? The USA Today story didn’t say anything about that.
And regardless of the dog’s size, to let it ride in the car unrestrained is cruel. Sudden stops (such as those caused by accidentally rear-ending another car) can seriously injure or kill the dog.
Yes, Sauron, he was a “fugitive from justice.” While the woman was trying to rescue her dog from the freeway, the guy sped off. It took a year to find him.
Serendipitously enough, he was already in jail when he was charged with the crime, on charges of stealing $68,000 in equipment and a van from Pacific Bell.
Letting dogs ride unrestrained in cars is not prima facie cruel, BTW. It wasn’t riding on the driver’s lap, in any case.
I cringe every time I see a dog riding unrestrained in a vehicle. Espically in the south, where it’s common to let the dog ride around, unrestrained, in the back of trucks. I’ve seen them hop out and chase hapless pedestrians!
It’s not illegal, but should be looked at strongly.
“Dog lovers and others had donated $120,000 in reward money for help in finding Leo’s killer. Santa Clara County officials plan to meet with the county’s Humane Society next week to determine how to distribute the reward.”
So the money is going to help animals in need. Good! So what’s the problem there?
“A jury convicted Andrew Burnett, 27, on felony animal cruelty charges for killing the fluffy, white bichon frise last year in a fit of road rage. He faces up to three years in prison for the attack, which outraged dog lovers.”
This guy is obviously a fucking nut to have grabbed an animal from her car and thrown it into traffic. I hope they do sentence him to 3 years to show other abusers that they won’t just get a slap on the wrist for this kind of violence.
So, you think it’s dumb to send money to help find this asshole. Lots of people apparently did not. Why do you care how they spend their money? Don’t want to send it? DON’T! Some people contribute money to causes they care about, such as animal cruelty prevention or stopping world hunger. It’s called a “donation”, and it’s meant to assist others with a particular crisis. If you don’t want to help, don’t belittle the people who do.
I plainly stated I wasn’t aware the guy fled the scene. Knowing that, I have no problem with folks sending bucks in to help track the guy down. Based on the incomplete story in USA Today, which I mentioned earlier, it sounded like people just sent money in to this lady because her dog died.
I can honestly state that I didn’t have all the facts before posting. You, however, chose to attack, even when it was obvious I wasn’t aware of the background info. What’s your excuse?
Remember a number of years ago when a woman was killed out west as she tried to protect her kids from a mountain lion? Shortly after that I read something in Harper’s about how a college fund had been set up for her kids and it had raised $X,XXX amount, while the fund that had been set up to care for the mountain lion’s cubs (apparently, the lion had been killed by someone, don’t remember the details) had raised $XX,XXX! People will shell out large amounts for animals, but for their fellow humans, diddly-squat.
I understand that you can find a lot of cruelty to animals in the past of many serial killers. But how many people who were cruel to animals end up becoming serial killers?
It relates to the deadly triad of childhood behaviours that are common amongst later serial killers. They are cruelty to animals, bedwetting and starting fires. Exhibition of all 3 activities does not present encouraging prospects for adult life.
Oh God! I’ve done all those things and I’m the same age as Tim McVeigh! Somebody stop me before I start killing people! Wait! Maybe its too late, maybe I’ve got MPD and I’m already killing people and I just don’t know it!
Exactofuckingmundo. $120,000?? Sheeit, with 1/4th of that I could completely pay for myself to go back and finish school. With about 1/20th I could afford to move into a decent place and start taking classes. I deserve it. See anyone setting up any Get White Lightning’s Life Back On Track funds? Me neither.
Not a lot. But, more to the point, there is a definite, wel-documented tendency for people who are cruel to animals to go on to be cruel to people. Especially when it happens in childhood or early adolescence. Whenever you read these stories about dogs and cats being mutilated (and it happens a lot more often than anyone likes to think), lit on fire, tortured, or otherwise subjected to wanton acts of cruelty, it’s a sure bet that after a while, torturing animals will fail to be satisfying to the perpetrator and they will hurt a person.
Come on now. People send LOTS of money, all the time, to complete strangers upon reading their sad story in the paper. Surely everyone has seen or read a news story about a sick child, house lost in a fire, terrible accident, etc., for which people subsequently contacted the paper or TV station to ask how they could help. Surely everyone has heard of people sending money to victims of floods or other natural disasters. People DO give money to other people all the time. There could be lots of reasons why there was more money was given to the lion-cub fund than to the woman’s children’s college fund: maybe the animal fund was started a lot earlier or publicized better. Maybe the mailing address for the children’s fund was printed incorrectly and thus many donations were delayed. One blurb in Harper’s isn’t the be-all and end-all to the story.
Zette: The money isn’t going to the humane fund. It’s being divvyed up among five people who helped track this guy down.
Much of the outrage over the donations have come from folks that are annoyed that you don’t always see comparable outflows of funds and affection for missing children ( unless they’re properly photogenic ). I’m not saying this is my viewpoint. Personally, I could care less. People can spend their money anyway they please and I can see where folks would feel sympathy for the victim in this case. It was a horrific act and an unusual one. Being unusual it grabbed the national headlines in a way that “just” another missing child wouldn’t. The outpouring is both perfectly logical and really rather sweet.
I will however make the observation that while this guy is obviously venal scum, the woman doesn’t seem to be a real prize, either. There is some circumstantial evidence she was having a little mild road-rage herself and aggravated the situation. Which isn’t an excuse for the asshole who killed her dog, but does makes me less inclined to be sympathetic towards her. Instead, I’ll save my sympathy for her poor pet.
I couldn’t agree more. I was pointing out the Harper’s piece simply as another example of where it seemed funny (to me) that humans would short-shrift one of their own for an animal. Personally, I’d probably have donated to both their funds had I been asked.
