Admittedly, I am very late on posting on this story and it has been in the U.S. news for some time now. But, I just stumbled across it this morning. Please visit the link above, read from the bottom and view the video. 
What is wrong with this world? How can a woman be arrested for doing what is so obviously RIGHT? WHY are animal rescuers constantly punished for standing up for compassion, integrity and everything that we supposedly teach our children? People who rescue animals from the cruelest circumstances are ALWAYS having to watch their backs because in Canada and the U.S. (and I believe world-wide) animals (living, breathing organisms the same as us) are treated as PROPERTY.
Therefore, if I want to save a dog from a chain that is cutting off their oxygen or rescue an animal who is starving or dehydrated I'm a TERRIBLE, AMORAL person because the law says I don't have a right to touch someone else's PROPERTY. How completely insane! The people who mistreated, abused and/or neglected said animal will be treated as law-abidin', respectable citizens whereas I will be shunned as a pariah because I deigned to think that this animal has a right to assistance and medical attention INDEPENDENT of whether their "owners" wish it or not. Their "owners" should not have a say. Just as I have intrinsic worth because my life is important to me so does EVERY other animal on this planet. Property is a paperclip.
So Tammy Grimes stood up for what is right. She saw a fellow animal suffering and she did something about it. Would she have been arrested had she helped a child chained in a backyard writhing on the ground? I think not. Both the child and the dog feel pain, fear and do not want to die shivering and lonely in the mud.
We use law as a shield. Law is just a made-up concept. It's a set of rules decided upon mainly by those already in power. Law is intended to maintain the status quo. It's dangerous when people forget this...when they see law as natural or preordained. It ain't. It's a human invention which has many, many flaws.
This isn't to say law doesn't have a place in human society. It has also served to help the marginalized and oppressed. But law should be a tool. And when it doesn't work, when it's become blunt and ineffectual it should be traded in. The laws which keep animals confined in virtual property boxes are so archaic they should be relegated to a museum. The Museum of Ignorant Laws.
And I also hope people remember there are human beings behind law-making, law-giving, law-enforcing. It is HUMAN BEINGS who make the decision every single day to uphold certain laws. It was human beings who decided that Tammy Grimes was culpable under the law for helping a dying dog to his feet. It was human beings who insulted her and demanded she appear in court. How do these human beings go home at night and face their kids? Do the conversations go something like, "Hey Billy, wanna toss the ball around? Oh, and by the way remember that nice lady who helped your teacher find a home for that poor lost dog? Yeah, I arrested her today. Why? Well, because she wanted to help someone get better, Billy. Like when Dr. Taylor gave you that medicine for your fever? And you felt a lot better afterwards? Well, this lady is like Dr. Taylor. She's a bad person, Billy, and must be punished."
What happened to Tammy Grimes is a travesty. And it happens everyday, all the time. Rescuing and defending animals is, to quote Jerry Maguire, an "up-at-dawn, pride-swallowing siege" that takes more courage, energy and guts than most people will ever possess. It is a heart-breaking, soul-crushing, uphill struggle at the best of times. And then on top of that, we still face the prospect of being arrested and treated as criminals for doing what is only ethical and right. It happened to someone I knew who climbed over a wall to tend to a dying dog on the other side, it's happened to people who try to show what actually goes on in laboratories and slaughterhouses and now it's happened to Tammy.
Tammy helps dogs like these. She stops when everybody else keeps walking. Don't you sleep better at night knowing our laws are keeping us safe from people like her?
wow...
so many things have been declared property in our world. Native Americans. The Land. The animals. And even People.
Where does it stop? How do we end it?
Posted by: Sean Howard | January 31, 2007 at 01:09 PM