I saw something this week that was incredibly disturbing. I was driving down a street on the mainland side of Melbourne, and on the left side of the road was a shabby beat up looking old jeep that was parked at the curb. The jeep had one of those big role bars on it, and a canvas top covered the cab portion of the vehicle. On the drivers side of the jeep, on the pavement, was a dog that was hanging by a rope tied to it's collar with it's back feet just barely reaching the pavement! The owner of the jeep was no where to be seen. I was shocked!
I made a fast U turn in the middle of the street and pulled up behind the jeep. As I was running to the dog, there was a man on a bicycle that pulled up. As I approached the dog, it was so frightened that it let it's bladder go and peed all over the street. The rope which I suppose was being used as a lease was tied tightly to the top of the roll bar of the jeep, and I assume the dog had tried to jump out of the jeep and had just about hung himself. A second dog was sitting in the jeep also tied to the roll bar, barking up a storm at me.
Thankfully at that exact moment, a Melbourne police cruiser was driving down the street and I waved frantically at the officer who made a U turn himself and parked behind my car. By this point the dog (who weighted probably 40-50 lbs) and I had determined that we weren't going to hurt each other. I held the dogs two front paws to me and supported him so that he wasn't hanging by his collar choking himself.
The officer approached after calling in the plate and calling animal services. At this point, the dog flipped out all over again, and I had to start trying to calm the dog down once again. The man that had been on the bicycle had also stopped and was standing nearby.
As I was talking to the dog trying to calm him, the officer got the door of the jeep open and because the dog was so big, the man on the bicycle and the officer lifted the dog back into the jeep.
The officer said that there was a local soup kitchen called the Daily Bread that was nearby, and that the owner of the jeep was probably there having a meal.
I was horrified at the state in which I found that poor dog, but, there was nothing more that I could do. the officer said he would go talk to the owner of the dog as would animal control.
Here's the rub. I love animals and I'm not saying that the person that owned the jeep didn't love his dogs. But putting your dogs in a situation like that was not in the best interest of ANY dog.
I had no other option but to leave it in the hands of the wonderful Melbourne Police Officer, but, I felt horrible leaving that dog behind. I wonder if I could have done more.
Did I handle the situation correctly?
Comments(5)