OPINION: Hope couple’s death was not in vain

That’s what I’m wanting to know.

I am still reeling from the shock of what happened to that poor couple in Oglethorpe County a few weeks ago – it is still hard to believe that they were killed in such a brutal way.

And as a lifelong animal lover, it is also hard for me to think of those dogs – unwanted and abandoned, left basically on their own to starve and breed more unwanted puppies. It sounds as if the gentleman trying to feed them had been long overwhelmed by dogs being dropped off near his home.

Long ago, those working toward the construction of an animal shelter warned that such a horror could happen right here in Madison County – like an elderly person or a child being killed or terribly wounded by a dog or dogs – and the truth is it still could happen.

I had hoped the shelter and its low-cost spay/neuter clinic would help alleviate such problems – it has been seven years this December since the doors opened. But the numbers that come through those doors there are still staggering – 600 dogs and cats, puppies and kittens, were surrendered to the shelter during the months of June and July alone.

Of course, some of these numbers are due to the economy – people who are homeless and/or in financial straits themselves find it hard to keep their pets. But most of it is still due to the same old reasons – a lack of responsible pet ownership; allowing dogs and cats to produce litters of babies over and over again.

And it seems those overwhelming numbers are just the tip of the iceberg, because then came August, and the deaths of Mr. and Mrs. Schweder – and the subsequent trapping of the group of dogs suspected of killing them. Those dogs, of course, ended up at the shelter, where they were humanely euthanized by order of a judge. And this was right – those poor animals could not continue to run loose after such a horrendous event. The plain fact is that those animals should never have been allowed to get in that type of situation.

But take out the deaths of the couple all together, if these dogs had been rounded up and brought to the shelter (as many are), they still would have had to be put down – they were in very poor health and had not been socialized. Even the puppies were in poor health, and according to shelter workers would probably not have lived much longer.

Now the couple’s own dogs – rescues all – are being cared for at the shelter and in need of rescuing again. The Schweders were obviously great animal lovers who took in as many animals as they could – all the dogs are spayed or neutered and have been well cared for. Many of the cats the couple had have been taken to the Athens Area Humane Society and were also well cared for by the Schweders.

The whole thing is such a terrible shame and so very unnecessary.

I do feel that public opinion is changing, though very slowly, as witnessed by the deluge of letters and blogs on this incident encouraging spaying and neutering as part of responsible pet ownership. Of course there are still the “just shoot ‘em comments” that are to be expected from an ignorant few who have no empathy for other humans, let alone an animal.

And then there are the disturbing comments of how we as a society are elevating animals to “human status” in importance.

Hello – this could not be further from the truth. A trip to the Madison-Oglethorpe Animal Shelter, or any shelter for that matter, can show how wrong that opinion is. Look at the little faces in those runs and cages – many brought there because there is not enough consideration for them as living things, let alone elevated to “human status.”

Millions of healthy animals are euthanized every year in this country because they are simply unwanted. There are too many and their owners (if they ever had one) allowed irresponsible breeding.

Too often, litters of puppies and kittens are brought to shelters or thrown out on the side of the road, while mama dog or cat is left to breed more babies that will have to die – either by euthanization, or worse, by sickness, starvation, or under the wheels of a car.

So what have we learned?

Hopefully, the death of this couple will not have been in vain.

Margie Richards is a reporter for The Madison County Journal.