Inexplicable Cruelty

There was an article in Saturday's paper along with a follow-up article today about how some workers with the nearby town of Jourdanton decided to handle the overcrowding at the town's pound. It seems that some workers were transporting some of the pound's overflow to the city's sanitary sewer treatment plant where a sanitary sewer worked placed the dogs' cages into the water to drown the dogs. What?! Chills washed over my body and tears welled up in my eyes when I read this Saturday.

How does one think that this is a viable form of euthanasia to place a dog in a cage and lower him into the water to suffer and thrash about until he drowns? It seems that a teenage boy who was working at the treatment plant over the summer was so upset and distraught over the sight that he told his mother about it. His mother then immediately called the Mayor and City Manager who apparently took immediate actions to halt the practice and suspended the employee who was drowning the dogs pending an investigation.

At least one question immediately comes to mind. Wasn't anyone else who worked at the Treatment Plant sickened and appalled by this practice? And why was only one teeenage boy upset and outraged at the Plant?

The City Manager in today's follow-up story explained that the city employee who drowned the dogs has been reprimanded. The City Manager explained that he didn't see any reason for further action because he discussed the situation with the employee who apparently expressed remorse. He further explained that the employee in question had no idea that his actions were wrong, and so the City Manager couldn't see firing the guy and destroying his career over one mistake.

What the hell is that crap? How can someone take living beings and place them in cages, cruelly drown them, and not know or think that there's anything wrong with this practice? How can a City Manager see this act as simply a mistake? How can any feeling, sane, compassionate human being think that these acts were simply mistakes and not cruelty?

Luckily at least the Mayor and one City Council Member are not happy with the outcome at all and have called for an outside independent investigation. They even stated that criminal charges would be considered too. Thank goodness for that. Let's hope that there's plenty of public outcry over this much like there was when the San Antonio paper ran an undercover exposé of the San Antonio pound and now big changes are being made with the pound's operating procedures.

Unfortunately, whatever the outcome is, it won't fix the underlying problem which seems to be much too prevalent here in South Texas. And the problem is that far too many people think that animals don't count at all. Animals are nothing more than disposable objects to far too many people, so they reason that their acts aren't cruelty if an animal isn't given the same considerations as human beings. The whole idea sickens me.

Lastly, I'm terribly concerned about the teenage boy who witnessed these events and who undoubtedly was terribly affected. I hope that his parents get him some help, if necessary. Unfortunately, I'm afraid the events that he witnessed will have a scarring effect on his psyche for the rest of his life. I truly hope that this boy will recover and retain his good heart.

I am the type of person who really tries to see the best in people, but when I read about events such as these it rocks my moorings and faith quite a bit. It makes me wonder if my faith in people isn't misplaced. It makes me feel dumb and naive, and it makes me wonder if goodness really isn't as prevalent as I would like to believe.

Time will tell...