fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #3308 ]

⌈ Secret Post #3308 ⌋

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tw: animal abuse, next comment for collapse

So I live in a city that currently has a really bad homelessness problem. For the most part, they're left alone regardless of what they're doing, because imprisoning them does nothing and it's not like they can pay fines, so the city's caught in a real clusterfuck about what to do.

Now, I have nothing but sympathy for the situation, but my quandary is this: I was waiting for my bus to go home from work, and one of the homeless panhandlers hanging out outside the grocery store had a dog that he was screaming at, yanking around, and kicking. This dog has clearly been in his possession for some time, as it's emaciated and is definitely used to the abuse.

On the one hand, I understand that this man is more than likely mentally ill, has next to nothing, and the loss of his only companion could very well finish him off. On the other, I can't stand to see this poor helpless dog in such a horrible situation, and I already have some contacts in animal control that could easily take the dog away and rehab/re-home it into a much kinder situation.

So I suppose my question is, whose situation is more important to defer to? The human's or the dog's? I don't know what to do.

The dog's. Lots of homeless people take good care of their pets. This guy isn't one of them. If the dog is being that poorly taken care of (starved, abused) it will likely die soon anyway, and then the man will still have to deal with the loss.

The real issue is, are you going to be able to find this guy again?

Ugh. You make a good point.

I've seen him before in generally the same area, though I rarely end up spending any time there at the same time (I had a later shift than usual today), so this is the first time I've really gotten to see how he treats the poor thing. I keep thinking that someone else must have called about it, but maybe I should regardless? Maybe having direct contacts helps?

Don't be sure someone else called - a lot of people get stuck in the "someone else probably already did this" loop and then nothing gets done as a result.

the dog's, no one is entitled to a pet no matter how sad their situation

I think Blitzwing has a good point that he'll probably end up killing the dog through neglect or abuse and he'd be no better off than if the dog was taken away (but the dog clearly would be worse off).

Plus, if authorities confiscate it, it might be a learning opportunity for him - they can tell him what he's doing wrong - and there's a chance he will either not get another dog or will take better care of any future dogs. Maybe he won't really understand, but he might. On the other hand, if the dog starves to death or dies of internal bleeding from being kicked, it's likely there will be no one to tell him it was his fault and he might just repeat the process with another dog.

[ SECRET POST #3308 ]

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