Front Page News

I have not been in a bloggy mood lately, probably due to having a long weekend down the shore. There is something about too many days of lounging about on the beach and dining out that makes it extremely hard to return back into your ho-hum life with full force again. It was my first real taste of summer, and I am still reveling in it’s laziness. I am sure I will back in the saddle soon, probably before my first sun kissed tan of the season fades.

In the meantime, I felt the need to write about an incident that happened last week, which has been in the back of my mind ever since. My co-worked walked into work carrying his local newspaper, as he often does. When he threw it onto the desk, plastered across the front page was a picture of a young man. The headline read that the county was offering a reward for any information regarding this man’s whereabouts. There was a warrant out for his arrest and he was being actively sought by the police.

Not such an unusual headline considering I live in a major metropolitan city, right? Except, this man was being charged with cruelty to animals. He left three pit bulls locked in their cages to starve to death. I won’t go into the gruesome details, but you can read the basics about them here if you want.

Once I was able to put the heartbreak of those poor animals and their torturous death aside, I felt a true sense of relief and hope. This man’s abominable act made the front page! There is hope when such an awful event does not get buried somewhere on page sixteen, among ads for an upcoming Macy sale. And there was an award! By the county, not some rich animal lover, but the county itself. He was being ACTIVELY sought after by the police.

I guess I am trying to find something positive to cling to, rather than focus on the sad cruelty these dogs suffered at the hands of one sick psychopath. Some can say it was a slow day for news and this is why such a story can make the front page (the entire front page, I might add). But for me, it represents an awakening to just how important it is to recognize that animal cruelty is not tolerated, must be punished and puts an entire community into an outrage. For me, it represents that these dogs did not die in vain.

Comments

[jen]

that is horrendous.

and on another brighter note, so glad you got some early summertime.

[Nael]

That is great. I agree with you that crimes against animals are frequently given lower priority that other crimes.

[Sayre]

Apparently, animal abuse is a gateway behavior to much worse behavior aimed at humans. And the law enforcement agencies know this now. Stopping this dog-starver now may keep his grandma from dying an unpleasant and tortuous death later.

Our animal cruelty cases get front page coverage here too. And it is rather reassuring to witness the public outcry against such people.

[Ann]

GOOD! I'm glad that was on the front page. Completely unforgivable. =(

[you da mom!]

ugh, that's disgusting. i hope he starves to death in his prison cell. um, on a lighter note, i love how you call the beach the "shore." that's such a east coast thing. we never use that.

[venessa]

Those poor animals. I don't understand how people can be so cruel. It bothers me to watch the girls intentially squash an ant or a harvestman!

[Michelle]

Though I've never had a dog or been comfortable around animals I can't stand to see anything suffer. What a sad thing to happen in your community.

[mommiebear2]

That is just terrible. I totally did a double take here - Hahn, whose last job was at the Philadelphia International Airport, is being charged with cruelty to animals, said Nicole Wilson, acting managing director of the Delaware County office of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. *Same name as myself*