Okay once again I need to start with a disclaimer; I love animals. In fact I love animals so much that for 15 years of my life I even refused to eat them. That’s more than most people can say.
I also love dogs. I very much love dogs. I’ve had a dog or dogs in my life for the vast majority of my life and I detest people who hurt or abuse dogs in any way, shape, or form. With that out-of-the-way, let’s proceed.
A couple of years ago there was a thing on the news where some young couple were found to be drinking in the beer garden at the Cloverdale rodeo grounds while their two children were left locked in their family car in the parking lot. Both kids were wearing soiled diapers and were clearly upset by the time the police found them. You know what the consequence for these people was? A stern talking to from the police.
How many times do see very young couples or young women or young men walking with a kid in a stroller and the parent with a cigarette in their mouth or hand. Cigarette smoke filling the longs of those poor impressionable little children. You know what the consequence for these people are? Nothing. Other than the fact that their kids are going to be more prone to lung disease and respiratory illness, these parents are not going to face jail time for the irreparable harm they are doing to their children.
There are far too many stories of people treating children so poorly or so savagely that it makes my blood run cold it and it makes me sick to my stomach. All too often there are no consequences for these people.
And then you have the case of the (now former) CEO of Centerplate who was caught on camera in an elevator kicking and yarding on the leash of his young puppy.
Let’s be crystal-clear hear – what he did was wrong, it was cruel, and it was hurtful. It is incredibly cruel to hurt another being that has little or no opportunity to defend itself. What he did was wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.
Shortly after being caught hurting his dog his employer forced him to make a $100,000 donation to an organization that will help animals. That donation really is a fine that he paid for his actions. A $100,000 fine.
His employer also forced him to agree to do 1000 hours of community service.
After continued public pressure on Centerplate, the CEO (now former) resigned from his position as the CEO of that company.
Now he has been charged with two counts of cruelty to an animal and could face a $75,000 fine and two years in prison.
How about a little perspective here. Why is it that we will give a guy a $100,000 fine shame him out of his job and then pursue criminal charges that could lead to two years in prison for kicking a puppy and yarding on its leash and yet what happens if you hurt a small child in our society?
Just another case of society’s misplaced priorities.