Big day in Austin. It's the day of the public hearing on House Bill 326, the bill that would make animal cruelty laws tougher. The bill may wind up stuck forever in committee -- go to www.thln.com to see how you can help nudge it out of the House Agriculture and Livestock Committee. (At www.capitol.state.tx.us/, you can find your rep and senator and track bills, read them, etc. Seriously, you ARE interested in how these birds are spending your money, aren't you?)
It's easy to get discouraged about the cruelty laws. We have laws against murder, but people still kill each other. We have laws against speeding, but people still blast down the freeway like there was nobody else on the road. We have laws against drug and alcohol abuse, but people still fall victim to them.
The thing to remember is that until animal lovers pushed the Loco Law through a few years ago, animal cruelty was more of a curiosity than a crime in Texas. Now it's a crime with jail time.
Sometimes the steps toward civilized behavior are difficult to take, so citizen/voters need to help elected folks take them.
READING TIP: Jennifer Roberts of Angels Rescue of North Texas tips us to this site: www.militarymascots.com. It offers a compilation of stories about animals "saved" from the current war by American soldiers. It's uplifting -- and offers hope that good hearts will prevail over the bad hearts.
AND THEN WHAT HAPPENED? Some quick follow-ups: Mouse and Mickey, the German Shepherds at the Carrollton Animal Services shelter, have been adopted, reports our tipster, Debbie New of the Plano Animal Shelter. And Christie Hansen, dedicated rescuer, recently sought a home for a 6-year-old male, neutered German Shepherd that a family was giving up because the dog was "too rambunctious." That dog has been adopted.
That dog wasn't Christie's, but was the dog of a friend's in-law's. You know how this goes. Christie and other rescuers are all too familiar with this pattern.
It goes like this: If one person hears that you do animal "rescue/placement," pretty soon you're the office/neighborhood expert and you're placing animals for your friends' relatives' former in-laws' ex-spouse's first cousin's brother who has discovered to his surprise that he can't keep a kangaroo in an apartment with a Jack Russell Terrier because both are allergic to his pet tiger.
But, someone has to take up the slack for people who just can't live up to their promises to the animals. Bless your hearts.
