Editor:
Re: Surrey puts heat on abusive drivers, July 1.
It’s about time! Kudos to the City of Surrey on its new bylaws concerning the chaining of dogs and tougher laws on leaving dogs in cars.
Both laws are long overdue, tying the SPCA’s hands in administering charges against those who feel they have the right to abuse animals.
Yes, folks, leaving a dog locked in a car is abuse, and yet walk through any parking lot and you will hear dogs barking to be freed.
It is very hard to understand how our ‘Canadian culture’ – which continually berates others for their abuse of animals – can continue to dismiss the abuse here at home.
Every day, farm animals and domestic pets are suffering at the hands of our so-called civilized society, and we do little or nothing.
The odd abuser may pay a small fine and spend a few weeks in jail and told they are prohibited from owning a pet for a number of years. What a laugh. Who monitors them? How many other animals might suffer by their neglect before they are caught – again?
British Columbians brag about our natural beauty and wildlife, but there is a dark side to the abuse that our urban creatures endure.
Each year Critter Care Wildlife Society receives a number of animals that have been abused by humans. Case in point, a recent call to the centre demanded that two baby raccoons found hiding beside a hot tub be removed immediately or they would club them to death with a shovel. Critter Care staff rushed to the address only to find the babies struggling to survive in a half filled slimy garbage can. The kits were soaked, thin, dehydrated and crying.
Staff discovered the babes had been kept for a week as pets and fed donuts, cheap pies and other sweets by their druggie rescuers, and when their crying from the pain of distended bellies and diarrhea upset the humans, they threw them over the fence. Unfortunately, the neighbour, another druggie, tossed them into the garbage, where they were rescued and taken for emergency care to Critter Care.
Happily, after many days of intensive care. the kits are on the road to recovery. Who knows what psychological trauma they suffered?
That same week, the shelter took in another baby raccoon who had been shot in the face with a pellet gun.
Where is the legislation for their welfare?
To find out more about how you can help our urban wildlife, visit Critter Care’s open house July 12-13 (www.crittercarewildlife.org).
Dee Walmsley, Surrey