AURORA: ROPE-A-DOPE OR ANIMAL PROTECTION?
The City of Aurora is considering a new ordinance which would make it a violation of their animal cruelty provisions to tether a pet.
Do you think tethering is per se cruel?
Just to be clear to all the Michael Vick fans out there, I'm talking about horizontal tethering, not vertical tethering (where paws don't reach the ground) of underachieving fighting dogs.
posted by UMRBlog @ 13:01
3 comments
3 Comments:
You mean like putting a dog on a chain in the yard? I'm unclear what you mean by tethering.
It depends on the length and reach (two different things) of the tether, but in general, yes, I think it is somewhat inhumane. Would you want to be chained to a post on a 6', 10', 15' garrotte for all your days? Before you paint me as a card carrying PETA member, I assure you that I am an avid outdoorsman, with three bird dogs of my own that are in a fenced yard (100' X 200') that I would never tether, kennel, or allow to run wild for any extended period of time. The one time in my life that I had to tether my dog he was on a 70' cable, which gave him 140' circumference of range.
Most animals that I see tethered have all of the grass worn away, so that they are in dust when it is dry and mud when it is wet with (maybe) enough reach to get into a crappy doghouse. However, at least on a tether they can usually sweep their feces out of the way and don't have to step in it all day.
In my opinion, kennels are worse. I have yet to see any "average joe" keep a clean kennel. It is way too easy to feed the poor animal (if he's lucky) real quickly, but also way too easy to leave the accumulation of feces and urine to collect until it is unbearable. Further, these kenneled animals seem to never get any exercise, attention or shade.
Running free is great for the animal until the automobile is faster, so in closing don't tell me that any animal has a better life chained, locked in a kennel or dodging cars and fighting ticks and fleas.
As far as I am concerned, if you can't respect an animal more than that leave it at the kennel, pet store, breeder's, etc. and save yourself the expense and the animal the misery of what you have in store for it. But, hey, it's only a dog, right?
Yes,
Whether the ordinance covers running lines, too, I don't know. I couldn't find its actual text.
TYFCB
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