I just do not know where to put this. Mods, tear it up and put it where you think it should be, it is a rant but yet not.
So today I’m watching CNN, as I do on the weekend, and comes on what should be a feel good story. A little Alabama dog got blown away from his home during one of the horrendous tornadoes that tore through the state. Both of the little dogs front legs were broken, but yet he crawled home on those broken legs. Heartbreaking and heartwarming.
'Cept for this part, they showed that little dog dragging itself around on it’s broken front legs for the longest time, so long that I got ill watching it and had to change the channel. Here’s my beef: I would have snatched that dog up and headed straight to the nearest vet, there is no way in this world that I would let her/him move another inch. They did not, just kept filming and petting the little dogs belly. No matter how happy the dog was, it was in unimaginable pain.
What the hell were the owners and the reporters thinking during this? It was just awful watching this poor little dog, obviously so happy despite it’s pain to see it’s family again.
So, I guess I’m pitting the gross obliviousness of the owners, but at the same time rejoicing that the little dog will be ok.
It’s the general trend of filming instead of helping, and I agree it makes you look rather bad. Sure, catch it on film for documentation purposes, but give it a few seconds and then go help.
A long time ago (think Viet Nam war era) a cameraman filmed a monk who set fire to himself to protest the situation in Asia. The camera man later got a lot of flack for filming rather than putting the guy out. IIRC, this was the start of some guidelines about when press people should prevent bad things rather than just record them.
Yeah, I can understand the hands-off approach when you’re filming animals in the wild and lions killing baby gazelles is just part of the circle of life and you shouldn’t interfere blah blah blah.
But a domestic dog in a circumstance like this? Put down the camera and help the little guy.
Probably because they were just going to take him to the vet to get put to sleep so may as well get the heartbreaking story on video first.
Okay, that’s pretty cynical of me. Orthopedic repair is expensive, maybe they do want to get him treated but needed to make sure they got enough pitifulness on film to get some donations to help offset the cost.
Would snatching up the dog and taking him to the vet be more crueler since it would be detained, and not able to get home when it knew how to get home? Would the family assume the dog was killed in the tornado and not possibly try to look for it in the shelters or vets?
Guess it depends on how determined the dog was in walking. The more determined it is, leave it alone and monitor; if it was stationary or stopped walking and was in visible pain, then take it to the vet. I think the dog knows its own level of pain tolerance.
I didn’t see the news story, so it would be hard to give you my definitive answer. Wile E’s response is reasonable…it could be a possibility, and I would hate to be the one who made the choice that resulted in the dog’s demise.
I saw that clip. I was all WTF? when the dog was crawling around, but they did show the dog at the vets office later in the clip and she is taking care of him.
I guess that since the bones had been broken for 2 or 3 weeks and he crawled across who knows how much of Alabama like that, another 5 minutes for the camera wouldn’t make a big difference, but it was shocking to watch.
That’s outstanding! The vet is fantastic for doing the work for free, since the family lost most everything in the tornado.
The point I was trying to make, obviously poorly, was that 10 seconds would have been long enough to get the story, and that someone could have picked the dog up and got him where he needed to be. It went on far too long.
It sounds like the dog is doing ok, so I don’t feel bad about this somewhat-related threadjack!
When I was in grad school for journalism, a professor brought up an ehtical dilemma:
You are an American reporter covering a war. You’ve been captured by the enemy. They tell you to point your camera at the road below, because they’re about to ambush and kill a group of nearby American soldiers. If you shout to warn the soliders, the enemy will kill them (there wouldn’t be enough time for the soliders to defend themselves even if you gave warning) and they’ll kill you to boot. But if you keep your mouth shut, you’ll have an amazing story on camera AND you’ll get to live. Either way, the soldiers are going to die. What do you do?
FWIW, I would have shot a few seconds of video of the poor dog crawling, then I would’ve swooped it into my arms and tried to help it. Make the act of saving the dog your story, CNN.
According to the video I just saw on youtube, his owners can’t keep him - understandably, because they’ve lost their home and aren’t in a position to take care of a dog any more. But how sad for the dog to have such devotion to crawl all the way back home and still not get back to his family.
Well crap, from all’s well to not so well for re-uniting Mason and his family. I can only hope that some loving people are lined up to give him his forever home (with visitation!) after seeing his story.
And I don’t think the ethical dilemma question was a hijack, kind of hits the nail on the head. I think I would shout out a warning. But you never know until you are in the situation, I suppose.
A quote and a link to an article with video about Mason. I can’t watch it because it might show the horrible floppy broken legs again.
“Fortunately he seems to be in fantastic hands with the people at the Birmingham-Jefferson County Animal Control shelter, and at the Vulcan Park Animal Care Clinic, which is donating a “bed” and surgery to Mason. In the video below, it appears he is happy, and getting the attention and medical care he needs.” [URL=“http://dogblog.dogster.com/2011/05/18/tornado-dog-crawls-home-with-two-shattered-legs/”]
Wait a sec, who was petting the dog’s belly, if it was the person filming then you may have got a point, but if it was someone else why didn’t they go get the dog help, why is it the person taking the pictures that is the one that should have
I don’t know, I presume it was one of the family doing the petting, but when it went back to the dog walking on the horribly flopping front legs, I just couldn’t watch anymore, still can’t. CNN was where I saw it. I couldn’t tell you if it was home video sent in to CNN and then voiced over, because it distressed me too much to watch the whole thing.
His legs were broken between elbow and ankle, high enough above the ankle to be just awful. I’m shuddering now recollecting it. Check CNN and Mason the dog.
That poor pooch. I’m glad he is getting treatment but it does seem pretty harsh that after all that struggle to get back to the family he wound up being given up. I hope his family finds a way to keep him.
Near Albuquerque (might be Corrales, not sure where the line is) a man was walking his pet Chihuahua on the Bosque (cottonwood forest on the Rio Grande flood plain). Out of nowhere comes a golf ball and breaks the little guy’s skull, eventually killing him. Person unknown was practicing their drive.
