Not only are you an irresponsible pet owner...

The BBQ Pit
1

you’re a negligent parent whose children deserve to be removed from your custody.

Yesterday, I went to a barbecue at a friend’s house (my apologies to those recently blighted by blizzards) and we were sitting on the front porch, enjoying our chicken and knocking back a few cold ones. My friend lives on the corner, on a rather busy road- high speed limit, constant traffic to the interstate on-ramp a few blocks up, generally a bad place for both children and animals.

Suddenly someone notices a chihuahua playing in traffic. In the short time it took me and a friend to run to the road, it narrowly dodged a half dozen passing cars. The dog is skittish, so just when we’ve got him cornered and I try to pick him up, he bolts out into traffic again. We chase it across the road, and as far from the traffic as we can, and finally manage to lure him over so we can look at his collar. The address on it is the house directly across the busy road from my friend’s house. We knock on the door, which is slightly ajar, and return the dog to its owner, telling her he had been running out in the road. She takes him without even a thank you, acting like we’re being rude by saving her dog from certain death.

We return to my friend’s porch rather disgruntled, and she begins telling us how the parents in that house let their children (even toddlers) play unsupervised in the front yard (even though they have a fenced-in back yard) and that the children often cross the (very busy) street alone. At that moment, a boy of about 3 and a girl maybe 10 years old start playing out front- he riding a tricycle and she a scooter. As we’re watching, the little boy rides his trike right off the sidewalk and into the street- directly in the path of oncoming cars. All of us girls on the porch start screaming, and several of us jump up intending to save this little boy, but luckily the girl heard us screaming and managed to yank him out of the street before an SUV could flatten him.

So, to you worthless parents, I’m going to call Child Services and report you as the miserable, negligent scumbags you are. Guess what? If you’re too fucking lazy or busy to sit out front with your kids to make sure they don’t become roadkill, let them play in the fucking fenced in backyard. And if, for some reason, the backyard isn’t safe for them to play in, keep the damn kids in the house. Better to be bored and SAFE than unsupervised and DEAD, fuckwit! Maybe you could give them a book or two to occupy themselves, so they don’t turn out to be ignorant fuckers like you.

Bastards.

2

I have a guy next to me who put his dog outside tied to a two foot lead on an 80 degree day for 12 hours with water and foot just out of reach. I took pictures and reported him, but animal control can’t do anything unless they catch him at it. It sucks when you see shit like that and are helpless against it.

And unfortunately, CPS is far busier than animal control. And I don’t know the laws in the state you live in, but just calling them won’t mean crap in the long run for those kids. In fact, the kids are probably better off with their negligent parents than they are in the foster system or wherever they put them.

Sincerely,
bitter and jaded over a lifetime of trying to help babies and animals

3

One of the pics I gave to animal control…how much more evidence should they need?

Sorry to hijack…

4

Good for you, RedRoses!

5

Yep, good stuff, keep it up. The world needs more people who give a shit about what goes on around them. Here, have some red roses.

6

Good for you RedRoses. You did this planet proud.

7

Good RedRoses! I hate these fuckers that could care less about children they brought into this world AND the poor little dog. I actually worry more about the dog, kids at least have speaking voices.

8

Depending on the laws of your area, this is probably not something animal control can intervene on. The actual care given to a pet in my area is food/water/shelter. In the pic I can see food and water. Without seeing some negative environmental factor (snow, rain) and lack of available shelter it would not be abuse, cruelty, or even negligence.

9

Well, she did say this:

Sounds like food water were unavailable, (out of reach), and he had no shade from the sun for 12 hours. (No shelter.)

10

However, that is not evidenced by the picture. IME with animal control, you need evidence that will stand up to scrutiny in court. If the owner testifies that they would never leave the dog out in conditions like that, the case would be dismissed. Many judges/magistrates/etc have a negative view on deciding cases like this to begin with.

I have seen cases where people were found guilty of neglect/abuse/cruelty and the pug in the pic is in canine heaven compared to the evidence supplied in those cases.

11

I have a few more photos that show how short that lead was. And he has no shelter in his backyard, at least not where he had the dog tied up.

The day those were taken was the ONLY day I’ve ever seen the dog in the yard. The guy never takes the dog out, and I know because I’m home all day and I am outside all of the time with my own dog. I was hoping the dumbass got rid of it, but I saw someone walking it the other evening. That surprises me because I can’t imagine keeping a dog cooped up in the house for a month.

When he first “found” the dog he would let it run around with no leash and I found it in the street twice, and another time it came up to my front door. If the dude wasn’t so in your face with his negligence I’d mind my own business, but it becomes my business when I have to get the dog out of the street, make sure he can reach his water, etc. I even called the pug rescue and they offered the guy $200 for the dog (not saying who they were) and he declined. He can’t be home for the dog or be bothered to care for it, but he won’t give it up.

It’s fucking ridiculous and I hate having him as a neighbor. Fortunately, his house is for sale, I hope it sells quickly.

12

Indygrrl, is that leash tied to that little stick?

13

If there is a law against animals “running at large”, then I would suggest you report any similar instance in the future.

14

I thought so at first, but there is a little red T-grip looking thing that acts as a stake. That is just a horrible thing to do to an animal.

15

I have two pugs, and I can hardly read this story. Pugs absolutely can’t take heat for that long - they don’t have the cooling capability of most dogs (short nose and all). That dog could easily die out there.

Makes me horribly angry that he won’t take care of the dog and won’t give it up. I was going to suggest calling the pug rescue but I see you already did.

Fucker!

16

If animal control comes out and witnesses it, isn’t that evidence enough? I agree that the picture does not prove anything, but your original objection had nothing to do with evidence that would stand up in court. If I call and report that a neighbor has 200 cats, that is not evidence of anything. Should animal control only investigate when they already have evidence? Isn’t evidence something one looks for when investigating a possible crime?

So? Is a crime not a crime because someone else has committed a worse one?

17

I don’t have a dog in this fight, merely reporting my experience. Animal control (in my area) faces a huge uphill fight getting a conviction. Many judges/magistrates feel these cases are a waste of the courts time. Also, animal control tends to have minimal resources; few employees and little funding. In some localities there is no specific animal control, just the police.

So, in my area at least, animal control is reluctant to investigate unless they feel it is a slam dunk. I’ve personally made a few calls that were not pursued.

And the 200 cat example? Is there a law or zoning that restricts animal ownership by number? If not, what can they do?

18

That was just poor exposition on my part. I was referring to the “hoarding” syndrome, where, more often than not the, animals are in horrible condition due to the hoarder’s lack of resources.

19

Well, if the little one is friendly, and you see it out for long periods of time, and the fellow isn’t around, since it’s managed to get loose before, who says it can’t get loose again and then just never come home (say, it managed to find a rescue home, or something like that) :wink: and the little tee happened to come out of the ground…see where I’m going with this?

20

Hoarding is a recognized syndrome that I’ve dealt with on a few occasions. Pretty gruesome, finding mouldering carcasses under half eaten pizzas, etc. However, again, local law enforcement/animal control needs probable cause to investigate unless a locality has laws/regulations limiting the number of pets in a dwelling. I have been told on at least one occasion that there is no law against being crazy when I report a situation suggestive of hoarding.

RedRosesForMe Sorry for the continued hijack (can a pit thread be hijacked?).