You know how obsessed I am with checking up on Internet bullshit. Almost every day on my Tumblr dash I see outrage, and not just indignant huffing, but posts about genuine injustice - but the maddening thing is that the folks reposting it don't question the content and don't bother to check it.
So here's Dutch the service dog, cruelly condemned as a vicious dog after nipping someone after they punched him and beat him with a metal bar. Dutch is rapidly heading for 5000 reposts - but a quick Google search turns up a very different version of the story. Quoth the Animal Services Supervisor: "I have been in this job for 15 years... This is the worst incident of an animal attack that I have seen. In the dozens of vicious animal cases I've investigated, I have never seen a case where the animal was as aggressive in pursuing the victim multiple times." The account circulating on Tumblr omits obvious details, such as why the victim was hitting the dog in the first place, not to mention her $24,000 medical bills.
Obviously, I hate the idea of anyone's pet being put down. It seems to me it's the humans at fault here - Dutch's owners, and the journalists who unquestioningly published their version of the story. I don't know much about dog safety, but I'd much rather Dutch was rehabilitated, or muzzled, or whatever else will allow him to stay with his family (or perhaps with a better one); and the Animal Services guy holds out hope for that. I'll still sign the petition in the hopes that Dutch will be given that chance. (But I'll be damned if I donate to his owner's legal fund.)
(Stuff like this gets on my wick almost every day. It's only when I'm hypomanic that I become compelled to kvetch about it! Ye gods, I might as well try to spell-check the Web. ETA: I suppose my kvetching is the equivalent of everone else's moral indignation! XD)
ETA: update.
So here's Dutch the service dog, cruelly condemned as a vicious dog after nipping someone after they punched him and beat him with a metal bar. Dutch is rapidly heading for 5000 reposts - but a quick Google search turns up a very different version of the story. Quoth the Animal Services Supervisor: "I have been in this job for 15 years... This is the worst incident of an animal attack that I have seen. In the dozens of vicious animal cases I've investigated, I have never seen a case where the animal was as aggressive in pursuing the victim multiple times." The account circulating on Tumblr omits obvious details, such as why the victim was hitting the dog in the first place, not to mention her $24,000 medical bills.
Obviously, I hate the idea of anyone's pet being put down. It seems to me it's the humans at fault here - Dutch's owners, and the journalists who unquestioningly published their version of the story. I don't know much about dog safety, but I'd much rather Dutch was rehabilitated, or muzzled, or whatever else will allow him to stay with his family (or perhaps with a better one); and the Animal Services guy holds out hope for that. I'll still sign the petition in the hopes that Dutch will be given that chance. (But I'll be damned if I donate to his owner's legal fund.)
(Stuff like this gets on my wick almost every day. It's only when I'm hypomanic that I become compelled to kvetch about it! Ye gods, I might as well try to spell-check the Web. ETA: I suppose my kvetching is the equivalent of everone else's moral indignation! XD)
ETA: update.