Behind the Douglas fir curtain

Country Dogs Do Run In Terror (Part 5)

12/29/2011

Country Dogs Do Run In Terror

(Stephen Jay Morris)

            When I left the big city, I thought I'd seen the end of animal abuse.  I had seen every sick and depraved action against dogs, from the sublime to the absurd.???  I used to watch a neighbor woman "follow" her three dogs through our neighborhood with her station wagon!  Why??  Because she was too damn lazy to walk them on leashes!  I saw a young man put his Pit Bull in a headlock while punching him in the face.  I have seen gang members write, with a felt tip pen, their gang's logo on the body of their Pit Bull.  Ad-nauseam!  I stopped asking 'why' years ago.  The explanations ranged from Anthropocentrism to everyday, common indolence, and religious rationales to just plain negligence.

            My wife and I tried various ways to stop such abuses, or at least call attention to them.  We ran the gamut from directly confronting the abusers, rescuing stray animals, to simply reporting incidences to our local animal shelter.  Many people were outright resentful to those they considered "nosey" or a "do-gooder."  It is reflective of the moral census, which is that, out of every 10 people, there are 20% who care and 80% who don't—give or take a couple of percentage points.  In any case, we did our best.

            Almost a year ago, we moved to Clatsop County, Oregon, into a home located just east of the little town of Elsie.  It is very rural, beautiful country with graceful rivers and surrounding mountains dotted with old growth trees.  The only outlet to civilization is Highway 26, which extends east and west between Portland and the coastal town of Seaside.  Our unincorporated area is made up of a small population of homes, trailers and ranches.

            There is a notion here that it's perfectly normal for dogs to roam free, without supervision or visible boundaries.  This is a worrisome occurrence.  It's a common fact that dogs are domesticated and dependent on humans.  They cannot possibly enjoy a healthy life while roaming rural neighborhoods, let alone survive in the wild.  Like all creatures, they have a survival instinct, but they are not acclimated to sustain themselves in a dense forest.  They could get lost, become diseased, ingest toxic substances, become infested by fleas and other parasites, be killed by wild animals, stolen, injured as a result of chasing a vehicle, or run down while crossing the highway. 

            We have often seen stray dogs, running in fear along the nearby access roads to and around our home.  They wear no collars and/or ID.  We've even rescued a few, who eventually, due to the great efforts of the Clatsop County Animal Control staff, were returned to their owners.  Because of economic disparity or other unknowns, residents here do not fence their yards and cannot stay home and take care of their dogs. 

            One day, I was working on my landscape, when I saw a yellow Labrador Retriever, running around and sniffing everything in sight.  I approached him—he was very trusting and friendly—and, true to type, he had no collar or identification on him.  He looked thirsty, so I offered him some water.  My wife came out to meet him and, since we had our own dogs & cats inside the house, we coaxed him into our garage for temporary shelter. We phoned the Clatsop County Animal Shelter and arranged for him to be picked up that afternoon.  Later that day, my wife drove with him through nearby neighborhoods and then to the local general store (located just north of the highway) for any possible leads.  Immediately, the storekeeper identified him, "Oh, that's Chester.  He comes around all the time — chasing after females in heat.  He lives over there (pointing to the opposite side of the highway).  Just let him go and he'll go back home!"  Apparently, his frequent crossing of Highway 26 was considered normal and acceptable.   Just before 5:00 p.m., the shelter employee phoned to inform my wife that the pickup could not be accomplished until the next day.  We agreed to keep Chester overnight.