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Editor's Note
We can be heroes
by Susan Dyer Reynolds

My friend Isaac and I were returning from dinner when we heard a guy shout, “Don’t touch it, you’ll get diseases!” We looked down to see a lovely young woman crouched beside my Honda Element grasping at a pigeon. “It’s hurt,” she said as the pigeon scooted behind my back right tire. “It’s just a rat with wings,” the guy huffed as he headed down Chestnut Street. Isaac was already calling San Francisco Animal Care and Control. The woman stood up, shifting her groceries. “It’s a bird and it’s hurt,” she said in a light Ukrainian accent. I have pet rats … I love all animals.”

The nearest ACC van was South of Market on another call, so the three of us stood by my car chatting and keeping an eye on the pigeon. When the officer arrived, she pulled a net from the van and asked Isaac to shoo the pigeon toward her; seconds later she pulled the bird from the net. She was knowledgeable and caring, looking the bird over for injuries. “He has a swollen wing and some of his tail feathers are missing,” she noted. “He was probably attacked by a cat, but he should be OK.” The Ukrainian woman, whose name was Julia, looked relieved. She asked if she could get diseases touching a pigeon. “Just wash your hands after,” the officer said. We all said goodnight and parted ways.

Julia didn’t realize it, but that night, in her own small way, she was an animal hero. Even the smallest gesture can make a difference to a creature that is helpless and voiceless in a world that is not always kind.

On Tuesday morning, July 29, a seven-month-old pit bull puppy named Pogo was found stabbed to death in the Bayview district. He had been missing for a week after disappearing while playing at Ocean Beach with his foster parent. I knew Pogo – my pit bull, Jasmine Blue, had played with him at the Corona Heights dog park. Grateful Dogs Rescue had pulled him out of ACC just two months before. He was a beautiful brindle boy with white markings; friendly, trusting, and full of spirit, even after doctors had to amputate his deformed right rear leg. Because of the brutal nature of the crime, police turned to the media, asking the public for help. There is a $15,000 reward for information that leads to an arrest. “Anyone who could do this to a dog could just as easily do it to a person,” I heard one officer say.

In fact, the link between animal cruelty and human cruelty is well documented – more than 90 percent of serial killers in the United States have admitted they started with animals. “A much higher percentage of violent criminals have had animal abuse in their backgrounds than those that don’t,” said Arnold Baer, director of field services for the Humane Society of the United States, of studies done on incarcerated criminals. He also hopes that judges, prosecutors and district attorneys begin to see the connections and take them seriously. Anyone who has ever donated to, volunteered for, or adopted a homeless pet is an animal hero, but there are many other ways to help, such as writing to legislators to encourage stronger animal cruelty laws. When NFL thug Michael Vick was convicted in the infamous dog-fighting case in 2007, the judge threw the book at him – for hanging, beating and electrocuting dogs that wouldn’t fight, and forcing others to fight to the death, Vick was sentenced to 23 months in prison. As an animal lover and the owner of a pit bull, I was appalled, but, as a lawyer friend pointed out, that’s actually a lot of time. “People often don’t serve any jail time for animal abuse,” he said. “And that guy who enjoyed torturing cats as a kid is probably going to work his way up to somebody’s mother, daughter or sister.”
With November around the corner, I can’t help but mention that anyone who cares about animals and the environment shouldn’t cast their vote for John McCain, because a vote for McCain is a vote for his vice presidential running mate, Sarah Palin, whose record on both is abysmal. As an avid trophy hunter and the governor of Alaska, Palin supports the horrific aerial hunting of bears and wolves, offering a bounty of $150 for every left front foreleg of a wolf that hunters provide to the state. West of Anchorage, she authorized the killing of up to 70 percent of all bears, including mothers and cubs. Critics point out that Palin’s “predator control plan” is really just a way for her to keep the population of caribou, moose and other favorite targets high for hunters. Ecologists say that Palin is fooling with Mother Nature – and we all know what happens when you fool with her.

Palin also sued the federal government to keep polar bears from being listed as an endangered species – she’d probably like a nice polar bear skin rug to go with the other skins and heads in her house. Besides, Palin doesn’t think those melting icecaps are that big a deal; she doesn’t even believe man is responsible for global warming. Maybe she thinks it’s just God’s way of bringing Russia closer. If you are an animal hero, say thanks but no thanks to Sara Palin, and send her packing on that road to nowhere.

If you have information about Pogo’s death – or information on Pogo being taken from Ocean Beach – please call Animal Care and Control at 415-554-9400. To donate, volunteer, become a foster parent, or adopt a dog, call Grateful Dogs Rescue at 415-587-1121 or visit www.gratefuldogsrescue.org. You can also mail donations to Grateful Dogs Rescue, P.O. Box 411013, S.F., CA 94141.

E-mail: susan@northsidesf.com

 


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