Evil Doers

I received an email today from one of my clients that was forwarded from one of the private dog runs that she belongs to in the West Village. It was warning of a post on craigslist (possibly a hoax) that threatened to place poison in or around New York City dog runs. Of course this email warned run members to be extra vigilant when entering dog runs by scanning the area for anything suspicious, and if they should come across something that could be poison, to call the police ASAP. They didn't describe what form the poison might be in, or what people should look for, just told them to be on the lookout. 

There are so many things about this email that bother me, not the least of which is the fact that someone would threaten to poison strange dogs for no apparent reason. In addition, without providing any details, the management has now managed to put their run members into a panic, essentially because they warned them of a danger without actually describing anything. They refused to pass along the craigslist post because it may interfere with the police involvement, so the dog owners are left being nervous and not knowing what the heck to do about it.

This isn't the first email I've been sent from frantic clients, sadly. In the past I have received warnings about tying dogs outside stores (NEVER EVER DO THIS NO MATTER WHAT) because people were biking by with razors and slicing the leashes to steal the dogs. Whether they were stealing fancy dogs to sell or small dogs to use as bait for fighters was never really determined, but regardless, who would do such a thing?! 

I check all sorts of websites for headlines every morning, one of which is digg.com. This website mostly has silly links and funny pictures, but occasionally it has pieces of news worth of sharing. This morning, I read an absolutely appalling story about a 17-year old girl who is facing jail time for animal cruelty. And not run of the mill, throwing pebbles at a squirrel animal cruelty. This girl, along with her friend, broke into an apartment, put a kitten named Tiger Lily into the oven, and TURNED IT ON. They left the apartment with stolen items, and left the innocent kitten to die. On top of all of that, she felt absolutely no remorse whatsoever. And on top of THAT, she had been charged with animal cruelty BEFORE this!

What is wrong with people? Why are strangers trying to poison city pets? Why do thieves steal people's dogs? Why on EARTH are young children driven to torture innocent animals? For the life of me, I can't think of one legitimate answer. It's tempting to blame the upbringing, or the parents, but no one teaches a teenage girl to bake kittens. That's a sick, twisted mind that needs to be locked up and kept from procreating. She can rot in prison, right next to the jerk who beat up Dusty the cat.