Re: “Woman pleads guilty to dog thefts in Surrey, Coquitlam,” The Leader, Aug. 2
Although I don’t know all of the facts (e.g. were the dogs truly abused, and according to what standard), sometimes a person must mind somebody else’s business in the name of humane treatment of animals.
I recall a hot summer day at a fishing boat wharf in Alert Bay, where my (late) father and I watched through Dad’s boat’s front window the large pet dog tethered to its absent owner’s boat deck before us, helplessly baking in the sun for a few hours in the unrelenting heat.
Dad held his proverbial breath waiting for the animal’s owner to do his job as a pet owner, but only for so long – it was rather surprising because he was an intensely mind-his-own-business type. Dad finally filled up a clean, gallon-ice-cream bucket with fresh, cold water and carried it over to the dehydrated animal that, quite not surprisingly, lapped up about two thirds of the content.
When the owner did eventually come, Dad, suppressing a lecture about treating one’s pets, conversed with the skipper for a while, casually slipping in how thirsty the guy’s dog was that day.
Perhaps the bliss of ignorance of just how that dog owner treats his best friend when nobody’s looking may be all a person can sometimes do when matters are unfortunately beyond one’s control.
Frank G. Sterle, Jr., White Rock