Letters to the Editor
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On what grounds are the police even involved in this?
This is the most insane story I've seen in a long time.
Whatever Ellen's upset about isn't even the real story.
It's that the police are involved in this case.
The article says the lawyer for the shelter sees this as a "breach of contract" situation.
What other contract breach warrants police action? Or even animal control action?
Sure the sheriff might help in eviction and foreclosure cases, but that is the end of a legal process -- not the opening salvo.
If there is a bonafide report of animal cruelty, proper legal action should be taken.
But without a search warrant, the police can't enter my home to investigate a real crime. How can they have that right in an alleged civil "breach of contract?"
Did they have a warrant in this case? What judge signed off on a warrant for this nonsense? And I call it nonsense because there was apparently no allegation of cruetly, simply an allegation of civil "breach of contract."
If the shelter believes a contract was breached, they are entitled to file a civil case against Ellen. At the end of the process, the shelter might win and THEN the deputies could ensure the dog is turned over. But even then turning up the house would probably have been unnecessary -- I'm sure the family/Ellen would have turned the dog over.
But without the process, I don't think ANY government agency has any invovlement in this civil breach of contract case.
(I'm assuming if this ran through the civil courts, it would have been reported in the article.)
So I'd be steaming too if I were Ellen and with my friend sue the shelter, police and animal control for what has to be fantastic violation of the law.
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they are wasting animal control officers on this?!?!?!?
Dogfighting is going on in this country. So is cockfighting. There are rabid racoons that get into people's garbage and present a real danger. That's what our taxes are paying animal control officers to take care of, not for taking little yippy dogs away from preteen girls. (Like previous posters, I'd wonder if the officers in question could be charged with theft, since they had no legal grounds for taking the dog.)
When you adopt a CHILD from a private agency, the agency may have certain income/housing/family size/marital qualifications for prospective adoptive parents. Let's say John and Judy Smith want to adopt a baby. They meet all the standards--they have a $100,000 combined income, a four-bedroom house in the 'burbs with a big yard, no other children, and have been happily married for ten years. They get a baby from the agency.
Five years down the road, they're divorced, their combined income is $30,000, they live in tiny apartments in the inner-city ghetto, and they've had quadruplets in addition to their adopted child. Does the adoption agency get to take the kid back? HELL NO. No one can take the kids--adopted or biological--unless the parents mistreat them.
A dog is not a child. Legally, it is property. Once the dog was signed over to Ellen, the shelter had no legal interest in that dog anymore. There are laws against mistreating your pets, but Ellen was not violating any animal cruelty laws by giving the dog to her hairdresser.
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There are not only dog bullies...
I went to find a kitten after the passing of an old friend. I went to this rescue shelter attached to an animal hospital, a very high-tech up to date animal hospital, where they "gave" you the animal but have to use their services to spay and give shots and all wellness for a certain number of visits. I chose two kittens, a brother and a sister, and immediately took the kittens over for their first checkout. The boy was smaller and was trembling but I figured that he was cold and since their vet said it was okay we went with it. Well days passed and the shaking became worse. I do not remember the name but the poor kitten had a virus that caused him to loose motor control. The animal hospital said we could put him to sleep right then or maybe the trembling wouldn't be that bad. We hoped for the best but got the worse. A month later we had to have him put down. The hospital/shelter was kind enough to not make us fulfill his contract but made us fulfill the other kitten's contract. I was disgusted. I had no faith in the organization and didn't want them to touch my other kitten. But I had to fulfill the contract. In their eye's they had done nothing wrong, they had just missed a degenerative disease. I never want to see the place again and have gone back to my nice vet who actually seems to care more about the animal than the high tech gizmo's that the first hospital embraced. I don't trust these places. I say if you give them a home and take care of it the animal should be yours. Five year later now, I have a wonderful cat that would tell you so if she could. I can not believe how disgusting these "animal lovers" are. I'm with Ellen on this one. Give the kids the dog. It seems like a much better home.
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why not use common sense?
We stopped donating to the largest animal shelter in Chicago after the last encounter we had with them (and hearing similar stories via our vet). An agency that, among other things, won't let you adopt unless someone is home with the animal (which of course encourages lying), they "carefully checked out" and gave a 75 lb. dog to a 19 year old girl who lived in a small apartment. She and her boyfriend apparently tied him to the back door and abused him. The building's janitor finally persuaded them to give him the dog after the boyfriend told him he was going to kill it. Janitor asked around and through a contact the dog ended up with us--longtime multiple animal owners. I was so angry I went to the organization with the adoption papers and pointed out that they had given a dog to someone under 21 who lived in unsuitable housing (no-no's I knew about, having adopted from them before). Their response? Bring the dog back and then return in a week to see if he was still there for me to "re-adopt."
I asked what kind of idiots would re-traumatize a dog like that and told them they could come to my house if they wanted to and deal with me there--but they would not get the dog. Finally a manager was summoned and agreed to my terms. But I told them I would never deal with them again, and indeed, our next (second) dog was conveniently picked up tied to a garbage can in the park next door within six months.
It's a shame but the reality is that some of these people do think they know better--and it's a gamble no matter what, so you'd think common sense would be the way to go.....