Everyday this woman makes me more miserable and adds to my dissatisfaction and frustration with this job!
A short warning to any animal lover out there, this one may be hard to handle. Most of my posts are meant to be funny (well, I try to make them funny) but this one is just disturbing and unsettling, and is further evidence of just how screwed up my coworkers are.
Three weeks ago Carmen got a baby Chihuahua that she named Chip. At the time the puppy was only four weeks old, and was away from her mother. To be honest, I was not sure if the age of the puppy was appropriate for weaning, but I kept those feelings of conflict to myself, as I often do around here. So, she had been entertaining us with numerous cute puppy stories for the past few weeks, and telling us how much fun it was to have a puppy and an 18-month old baby playing together.
Last Thursday she came into work telling us that Chip seemed to feeling ill. She assumed he had caught something when he went to the lake over Labor Day weekend. Wednesday night when she said Chip threw up for the first time. After he got sick, he stopped playing and was very lethargic. She acted like it was nothing serious, and was not too concerned with it.
I told her with puppies that young, you don’t want to take chances and she should take him to the Vet. Chip hadn’t gotten his shots yet, so the illness could be one of many things. She did not want to take him to the Vet because it was an hour away from her house and that was too far. But work is 30 minutes from her house and there are plenty of animal hospitals around here, so I fail to see how she could assume the nearest Vet was an hour away. I personally think it was the potential cost keeping her from taking Chip to the vet.
That kind of obtuse thinking is so inconsiderate. Why get a dog if you are not prepared to take care of it when it gets sick? Animals cost money even if they never get sick, everyone knows that. Taking a living animal into your home is a choice, but once you have done that; caring for that animal is no longer a choice, it is a duty that any responsible adult acknowledges. Having a pet is a good way to teach children accountability, and she does have six young kids to raise and influence. Failing to be that example for your children only shows them how to mistreat animals and neglect your commitments.
Friday morning Carmen came in and I immediately asked her,
“How is your little puppy doing?”
She told me,
“When I got home last night, he hadn’t got no better. All he could do is lay ‘round and throwing up everything. He wudn’t drinkin’ or nuthin’.”
“So, I guess you had to take him to theVet?” I asked.
“Neah, he was having hard time breathing, and we thought he was suffering.”
“How was he doing this morning?”
“Well, he died last night.”
“Oh my gosh, he died! That is so sad, I’m so sorry! So, how did it happen? Did he just stop breathing? Was it last night or this morning? Did you not have time to take him to the Vet?”
I bombarded her with questions, of course, because I wanted to know if there was anything anyone could have done. The following part is disturbing and I never could have prepared myself for what I was about to hear.
“Well, it looked like it was unhappy and in pain – ”
I’m thinking to myself – well of course he was in pain, he needed medical attention!
“- and, so I had Eddy (her hillbilly husband) shoot it, so that it would not have to suffer.”
“You shot your puppy, Chip!?!” I said astounded.
I had no idea people did that … especially not to puppies! I thought people only did that in the past with horses and elderly dogs, not because the Vet was too far away!
“No, I didn’t shoot it, my husband did.”
“So, your puppy died from getting shot!?!”
“Yeah, we had to do it.”
She did not even seem sad, more matter of fact about it. They don't want to get another puppy, which to me, implies they did not really want one at all.
I still can’t believe they did this! I understand that I am more sensitive to animal rights than the mainstream, but I don’t think I am overreacting here. They shot a six week old Chihuahua puppy with a handgun; a defenseless sick puppy that was probably no more than three pounds!
If one feels it so necessary to put an animal out of his/her misery, well … that’s why we have Vets that can legally euthanize an animal. All she had to do is drive the “hour” (30 minutes in reality) to the Vet and tell them to put her down. If it was me, I would have a vet make an informed decision on the puppy’s health, Vets want to help. An owner with no medical background or knowledge of fatal diseases in animals is not qualified to determine whether an animal is dying or just sick.
What is most infuriating is that she easily could have given the puppy to me or anyone at this office, and we would have taken it to get the necessary medical attention it required. At that point, if need be, the vet could have put the dog down.
I did not have the heart to ask what she did with the body, or how she even did it. I kind of wanted to know the details, but I don’t think I could have handled it. I think she could tell I was bothered by her actions. It doesn’t take a lot of common sense to assume that a vegan would be troubled by a person shooting a three pound Chihuahua puppy.
I know this is commonly done in dog fighting with dogs that are no longer aggressive enough or dogs that are not sufficient fighters. But this is also done on farms with horses and other animals and, I think, it was done more in the past than now. So, what is the difference? I am inclined to be more understanding for the later state of affairs.
My modest amount of knowledge pertaining to these laws is inadequate to make an informed decision. Am I overreacting? Is my sensitivity to animal rights issues clouding my judgment of what is legal? What do you think, is it out of line for an owner to shoot a puppy to relieve its pain? What is the actual law regarding owner induced euthanasia by gunshot?
The laws are dreadfully vague. The law in most states maintains that: an owner euthanizing a sick animal by gun-shoot is allowed if the life of the sick or injured animal can not otherwise be helped or saved by any other means. In this case, the life of this animal could have been helped by a vet; therefore what Carmen did constitutes animal cruelty … should she be reported?
Once again, this is just one more example indicative of the intense hillbilly mindset that governs this workplace.
1 comments:
WoW that's pretty disgusting.
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