Editor:
Re: Media embraces inhumane laws, April 12.
Finally, an intelligent individual who has some knowledge of animal-cruelty laws in Canada.
Thanks to letter-writer R. Thomson of West Vancouver. I’ve felt articles in Peace Arch News had been slightly slanted against Janet Olson. Just how many of the alleged 37 charges against her are factual?
A few years ago, a PAN reporter interviewed me when I was trying to save a mistreated dog here in White Rock. It was deemed vicious and would have been put down except for her and my efforts to show this dog was not vicious. He was rescued by Olson’s A Better Life Dog Rescue and put with a foster family, where he learned true love in a family atmosphere.
It would appear the RCMP observed Olson entering a property and taking a bulldog who had been left outside in the dead of winter. A small, shorthaired dog would certainly freeze to death, or close to it, in such weather.
Why do people have animals if they don’t or won’t treat them humanely?
Thank you, R. Thomson and Ms. Olson, for attempting to bring a sick situation to the public’s attention.
R. Carrier, White Rock
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Three cheers for R. Thomson, who writes in a reasoned, balanced and compelling way exactly what needed to be said with reference to the Janet Olson affair.
Central to his letter is a plea to examine the “causes of these desperate actions” of Olson: the suffering of animals, the concomitant lack of legal protection which exacerbates it, and the impotence and at times seeming indifference of major animal-welfare societies.
No one with eyes to see or ears to hear or a heart to feel can walk a block in any neighborhood and not be aware of an abandoned cat sick and/or starving, a neglected dog relegated to ‘outside’ status, cold, bored, lonely, driven to distraction or worse chained to a stake, all while the law and animal-welfare societies remain unable or unwilling to do what should be done to alleviate their suffering.
The circle of indifference encompasses all animals: the animals we use for food, for fashion, for sport, for entertainment, cosmetic testing, etc., in numbers beyond imagining, in cruelties too countless to comprehend, in crimes for which there is not yet a name – in the endless permutations of suffering that support our society.
This is why supporters of Olson’s actions – regardless of the mistakes she might or might not have made – feel like wanderers in the streets of men and in matters such as these creatures of desperate impulse.
Perry Walker, Surrey
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As stated by letter-writer R. Thompson, Canadians have been trying since 1999 to pass bills in our so-called humane country to address the issue of animal welfare.
Well folks, it’s now 2012 and our pets, wildlife and strays still suffer at the hands of irresponsible pet owners and warped humans who take out their frustration on God’s creatures. Why own a dog if you keep it chained or caged all of its life? Where is the pleasure in that?
I’m not just talking about backyard cruelty either. How many pet owners keep dogs caged all day in apartments while they work? A 20-minute walk morning and night to relieve itself is no life for any living being.
I applaud Janet Olson for trying to relieve the suffering of those animals she deems to be in distress. Most of us don’t have the ‘guts’ to take any action, preferring to turn a blind eye and mind our own business.
Wake up people! Our society condemns countries that treat their animals inhumanely and yet we continue to cage chickens, support cruel treatment of farm animals and abuse domestic pets and urban wildlife.
I’ve seen the results of raccoons pitch-forked to death, snowy owls used for target practice and deer run to death by snow mobile operators all in the name of sport.
If you want the truth about our treatment of animals, visit a wildlife shelter or talk to people in the know at the SPCA or in humane education. It’s time animal advocates take a stand and pass legislation to protect all animals from abuse so people like Olson don’t have to do it for us.
Dee Walmsley, Surrey