Consider consequences of dumping animals

Four years ago on a Tuesday at 8:30 p.m. in a neighbor’s driveway where I lived in Montana, there was a dog. This dog was whimpering, bleeding, and on its last breath. There was nothing left for anyone to do but to sadly watch this dog pass away. For this dog, it represented a tragic end to a traumatic week for someone that never saw it coming.

For this dog, that week began with what was probably an exciting idea: a ride with its owner. The weather was finally warmer, and it was a chance to stretch out, see the countryside, and share some time together. A happy dog that had no idea what was happening, only to be “dropped off” and to fend for itself. After some time, who knows how long, the dog became scared, being in a strange place, not knowing where or who to turn to, looking everywhere for its beloved owner. Running up and down streets in a strange town, looking, looking, and not being able to find anyone it recognizes. People in our town were used to seeing loose dogs run around, so people are not paying attention. After all, that was what we did there — we let our dogs loose around town. And because so many did it, nobody knew which ones were abandoned or lost. Everyone assumed this dog belonged to someone else.

Meanwhile, day becomes night. For this abandoned dog, what now? No food, no water, no shelter, and no idea what to do. From the coat on this dog, it had been an inside dog now abandoned to be on its own in the middle of winter. Based on its age, this dog was still young, still full of life and energy, and had no idea its owner did not want them. But now what? It was 20 degrees below outside, and this dog had no idea what to do. There was no home that night; nowhere inside to g. So what was a dog with no ability to fend for itself supposed to do?

Somehow this dog survived the night. If this dog found a covered spot, or an abandoned house, it was anyone’s guess. But as darkness turned to light, this dog had to now be panicking. Day 2 without a home, and while there was snow everywhere, and it was at best zero degrees outside, there was no sign of food, water, or worse yet, its home. So the dog runs around, looking, panting, nervous, and now very scared. It probably had never been loose for any length of time like this. This dog had no idea what to do. It does not know other people, so if a car drives by, or a person comes up to it, it was now scared. It was afraid to go up to other people because it does not know what had happened, and why this was happening to it.

Flash forward to that Tuesday night. The dog had figured out that there are scraps around town, and places to find bits of food. It had survived the cold of the past several days. It continued to wander around town, scared, but so tired that the energy of the first days in town are gone. No one obviously wants this dog because it cannot find a place to stay, and its master was becoming a distant memory. Happiness was gone, replaced by fear, and uncertainty. And then; the headlights, a slip on the ice, and then slammed into. The driver drives off. Who hits a dog at that speed in town?

And so after just one week, a dog that went from happy, healthy, and full energy with what it thought was a happy home ends up in a driveway bleeding to death, starving, and scared. Nowhere to go, no one left to love it, it curled up in a driveway, whimpering, alone to die. Several neighbors came up to the dog and commented, “It was probably best for this dog if it just died, especially after what just happened.”

After the week or two that it had just went through, do you believe this dog felt the same way?

Robert Arrowsmith is publisher of Clovis Media Inc. Contact him at:

[email protected]