Am I the only person upset, astonished and sickened by the article in the Bristol Herald Courier on Nov. 8? The front page, above the fold picture and story of “The Executioners,” haunts me to this moment. I wrote this letter on Wednesday, kill day at the Sullivan County animal “shelter.” I found myself fixated on that fact and distraught over the memory of what that meant to the animals in the “shelter.” In this context, shelter is hardly a “refuge.”
The vivid, sequential description of a dog’s execution lacked any semblance of compassion.
Horse tranquilizer, I am sure, renders an animal immobile, but is “justified” to protect the workers. That literally seems overkill. The injection method, and its aftermath, seemed tortuous and is not repeated here so that readers who have not read this heart-wrenching article will be spared its details.
I understand the issue of 4 million unwanted animals, per year, in this country. I have no solution to this problem, except responsible spay/neuter surgeries with public education about this. I thank those who volunteer or work as animal control personnel, especially Dr. Jones.
My issue is the blatant assault to the sensitivities of animal lovers and to the reading audience of your newspaper. This was published on a weekend, probably to reach more readers. However, children were more likely to see this also. Reading this article could be traumatic to a child.
If the point was to increase awareness by disgust, consider the mission accomplished. Denial of the problem is not where reasonable people are.
Simply put, a family newspaper is not the place to read about animal holocaust.
Gayle Stevens
Bristol, Va.
Email
Facebook
Google
Twitter
Favorites
More
Advertisement