April 29, 2008Chihuahua delivered to mayor's doorstepA mail carrier in Irving, Texas, made a rather unusual delivery this past weekend when he placed a box with Chihuahua puppy inside on the mayor's doorstep. 
According to a story in the Dallas Morning News, postal employee Philip Smith admitted he acted out of frustration with local animal control officials when he scooped up a free-roaming Chihuahua placed him in a cardboard box with a note including Smith's name and phone number, and left the box on Mayor Herbert Gears' porch. Smith contends that he has complained about the puppy wandering loose in his neighborhood, and animal control failed to correct the problem. After the pooch "made sexual advances" toward a neighbor's dog, Smith took it upon himself to relocate the amorous canine. He is quoted as saying returning the dog to his owners seemed pointless, since they continued to let the dog run loose. So he decided, since the mayor once told residents that if they had a problem, they could contact him for help, he would put the problem squarely on the mayor's doorstep. The mayor said he found the box with no dog inside and called police. The next day, the dog did show up on the mayor's porch sporting an injury to his leg, possibly an animal bite. Gears took the pooch to a vet who said the dog should make a full recovery. "There is no excuse for doing something like that," Gears is quoted in the article. "I don't care how many complaints you have. That's going over the top." The article did not give an age for the pup or say who has current custody him. Irving police and the U.S. Postal Service are investigating the issue. Personally, even though I could almost sympathize with the guy's frustration, I don't think it's humane to endanger a puppy to make a point. What do you think? If animal control fails to correct a situation, do you think its right to take the matter into your own hands? (Photo by WFAA-TV staff, Dallas) |
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Comments
[April 30, 2008 8:52 AM]
DeborahTo me...that is outrageous behavior to put the dog's life at stake to make a point. It is pitiful and cruel.
[April 30, 2008 12:57 PM]
ACTIVISTI hope he put appropriate postage on the package, otherwise, he could be looking for a new job.
[April 30, 2008 6:38 PM]
swellA free ranging dog is already in danger as well as being a potential threat and a nuisance to people and pets. What's outrageous is that irresponsible people are allowed to keep nuisance barking, free roaming dogs.
[May 1, 2008 8:39 AM]
Nona : →http://blogs.roanoke.com/thehappywag/Activist: Very funny. You made me laugh out loud.
Swell: I agree with you to a point. A free-roaming dog is a danger to himself and to other dogs, and I agree that pet owners should be responsible for being in control of the dogs at all times. But it's not the dog's fault that he is acting like a feral animal, since that's the way his owners are letting him behave. I really can sympathize with Philip Smith's frustration if animal control won't do their job. I just think leaving the puppy in a box on a doorstep went too far to make a point, and punished the dog for his owners' neglect.
[May 1, 2008 9:37 AM]
Ed S.Here's one thing that torques me. And it barely relates to the dog itself.
If the dog is free-roaming the neighborhood and *causing a nuisance*, then he was correct to begin reports to animal control.
If the problem continued with no action, then act like an adult and *do something constructive* about it. Don't whine about someone else's job...Pick up the dog and drop it off at the shelter. Simple enough.
The case sounds more like he was just upset there was a dog running loose. Growing up in a rural area, dogs went loose quite often. We'd get friendly neighbor-dog visits, and our dog had a daily routine of checking on a neighboring elderly lady who lost her husband. If the dog was a *problem* (aggressive, damaging property, etc) then I'd press harder on animal control to act. If the gent is just upset that the dog is free-roaming, then just suck it up and git-r-done.
Just because animal control is paid to perform a specific task full-time doesn't relieve everyone else of their duty to correct occasional problems that may arise. Were Smith's property on fire, I'd still call the FD, even though it is not my property, and not my full-time responsibility to watch it.
[May 2, 2008 3:00 PM]
KathyIf the mayor worried about animal control as much as he does demolishing old downtown Irving & making tire shops change tires indoor we would never see a dog loose of any kind on the street. Mailmen and water meter readers shouldn't have to contend with dogs going after them all day long because some animal owner doesn't follow the law & the mayor does not inforce the laws!