Animal cruelty should be put to rest

by Hilary McNamara, entertainment editor

Recently I was driving down the road on my way to the college when I saw a little spotted dog on the side, as if God knew dogs were my weakness.

So what did I do? I pulled over, opened my door and the dog just jumped in. Well, then I was posed with another dilemma. I had to go to class and unfortunately it was not Bring-Your-Dog-To-School-Day.

But I had Charlie’s class, which is more of a home to me than a classroom, so I brought Little Charlie with me, hoping someone could be of assistance. To make a long story short, we eventually contacted the Levelland animal shelter.

Never have I been so appalled in my life. The man who came and got her recognized the dog from an abuse case. He said that dog, along with five other dogs, was picked up and taken to the pound. Little Charlie ran away from the shelter the day before and probably for good reasons. You would have thought she had been a stray, not at the pound. Covered from her eyelids to her feet in ticks and fleas, she was dirty and extremely skinny.

This is ridiculous. If they need volunteers, then I am sure if they come to the college plenty of people would help. Why have a shelter if the dog is just as bad off in the shelter as it was out of the shelter?

Then I found out that the dog was going t o be euthanized that next morning. My heart sank when I heard this. I understand that some dogs have to be humanly euthanized because of violence, but a little puppy that has done nothing and has been abused does not deserve that.

My hands were tied. I could not have another dog. I already have a 168-pound Great Dane, a pleasantly plump 12-year-old sheltie and a 10-pound mutt. Also, I could not go get her because it was a Paper Night. I became enraged and felt like a murderer. I called my mom crying, telling her the story, and she told me I had done the right thing. I still felt as if I had just sent a friend to be executed for unjust reasons and did not stand up and say anything.

Euthanization is now performed using sodium pentobarbital or commercially compressed carbon monoxide gas. The process involves five steps, with the first being sedation. Then comes involuntary excitement, followed by light anesthesia, deep anesthesia and finally, death.

This sounds like such a horrible process. Six out of every 10 dogs that are put into shelters in the United States are euthanized if not adopted. Annually, 32,000 animals are picked up in Lubbock and the surrounding area.
I think that there are different options to killing dogs or puppies. In Lubbock, The Haven is a no kill-shelter though it is often full. There is also the Lubbock Pet Project. In addition, there are tons of web sites online that offer to take in certain breeds to save them from euthanization. It seems that most people do not want to adopt a pet because the dogs are older and not cute little puppies.

But, that dog will love you just as much, if not more, and it might already be potty trained. So you get to skip all the messy steps and get a great companion for your family. Think about all these options before you decide to add on to your family you could save a life.