Milagro is the name that former public defender Elie Miller gave to the injured stray dog she was attempting to rescue. [PART 1 HERE] The dog is large-ish black and tan creature who is part German Shepherd, part Rottweiler, part who-knows-what?

When she first encountered Milagro at the end of December, 2009, he lived on a large vacant lot that is situated between the Homeboy Industries offices, where Elie now works, and Men’s Central Jail where she often goes to meet with clients. He caught Elie’s attention because he was so obviously sick and hurting. It turned out the source of the problem was the collar he was wearing that must have been strapped on him when he was puppy, before he was lost or abandoned. Now that he was an adult dog, the over-small collar remained on and had grown into his skin and was literally strangling him. It was also causing an open, infected wound that circled his neck.

Elie began coming to the lot twice a day— at first to feed the dog and then, once he began to trust her, to slip medication into his food.

Her unlikely partner in the rescue was BeeBee (BB), a dread-locked, 50-something homeless man who camped at the edge of the vacant lot and claimed he had long-ago served in the navy on a nuclear submarine.

Before Elie’s arrival, BeeBee never tried to touch Milagro. However, he shared his food with the dog, hoping at least to keep him alive.

Ideally, the animal needed to go to a vet, but Elie worried that any official agency would likely put the sick stray down.

As if to prove the point, shortly after Elie began visiting Milagro, a kindly woman postal inspector who worked nearby and often stopped to bring BeeBee food, had also taken an interest in the dog. Observing Milagro’s obvious distress she told BeeBee she thought the authorities should be called.

“He’s in such pain,” she said. “Maybe he should be euthanized.”

BeeBee shook his head when he told Elie about the exchange. “Don’t we all live our lives in some pain?” he said.

A few days later, Elie found at first one tiny metal cross, sans its chain, in the dirt where she fed Milagro. A couple of days after that, she found two more.

She chose to take the discoveries as a sign—or at the very least a friendly blessing.

“I decided that one was for me, one for BeeBee, one for Milagro.”

FEBRUARY 13

The afternoon before Valentines day, Elie decided the moment had come to attempt to snip off the embedded collar that was continuing to gouge an open sore into Milagro’s neck.

She had been told by well-meaning experts that the task was impossible without tranquilizing the dog. But she was determined to try. She’d given him a long a course of antibiotics and it seemed to bring the infection down at least a little, but the wound was still open and horribly raw.

Elie’s planned strategy was to put small bits of food down on a plate for Milagro, a little at a time, and then snip at the collar while he was eating. More food, more snipping.

It worked—at least for a while. The dog had come to trust Elie to the degree that he seemed unalarmed at her ministrations. After about a half hour of feeding and snipping, she decided she had pushed Milagro far enough for one day.

Back at the office, Elie wrote me:

I was able to snip 3/4 of Milagro’s collar. Besides being difficult to cut (there are metal grommets on [the leather] spaced about every 1/2 inch), Milagro kept turning his head to snap at flies that are eating away at him. But I did it without tranquilizing or sedating him. All he time, he was eating near me with his head down, allowing me to touch his collar!

After she finished her bout of snipping, Elie lingered for a while longer to talk to BeeBee, she said.

I asked him how long he has been living on the streets. He said, “all my life.”

He listens to a radio station on his headphones. He says it’s 1280, a gospel station which promotes end of world beginning May 2011 & lasting 5 months.

I suspect BeeBee needs to be rescued too, but he’s been on the street so long….

FEBRUARY 14

On Sunday, Valentines Day, Elie was ready to try again in the hope of getting the rest of the collar off—namely the part that was embedded in the dog’s skin.

She found the work was much slower going than the day before. “I nearly gave up,” she wrote me later. Plus the flies on the oozing wound were, if anything, worse, making the dog and Elie both crazy.

She worked as carefully as she could trying not to snip any flesh. Finally, amazingly, the collar came free. The leather strap dropped away.

Seeing his tormentor on the ground, Milagro at first sniffed the thing, then grabbed the offending collar in his jaws and trotted around with it for a while, a victory lap of sorts.

Finally, he allowed Elie to take the leather strip away and he skittered to a hole near the vacant lot’s edge where he often goes to hide when there’s a threat.

After Milagro hit out, Elie left to catch up on some work for a while, then came back to the vacant lot, around 4 p.m.

Seeing her approach, Milagro trotted out of his hole to greet her.

“He is like a different dog,” she wrote me, “much more confident. He walks with his tail up! He actually looks happy. BB is amazed.”

Most importantly, she said, Milagro could finally swallow water like a normal dog—without strangling.

At home that night, Elie measured the choking collar. It was 13 inches long. Elie has three dogs of her own. The most recent addition to the group is a Chihuahua she rescued whom she named Pee-Wee. Pee-Wee weighs 11 lbs and his collar measures 10 1/2 inches. How, she wondered, had Milagro survived strapped into a collar a bare 2 1/2 inches larger than that of a Chihuahua?

“My next goal is to see that neck wound heal,” she wrote. “I’ve given him 2 weeks of antibiotics and that is the limit. Someone gave me a saline solution to clean his neck, but that has to wait until I can get him to let me wash/clean it.” Still the wound was looking better, she thought. She hoped so, anyway.

FEB 16

Over the next week, the dog continued to slowly improve.

I went to feed Milagro this morning,” Elie wrote, “and he was standing out in the empty lot; when he saw me, he stared. I walked closer to him and he started jumping around, in a playful manner. He barked too. Then he started to make that funny howling noise my dog Amy makes. What a greeting I got!”

Two days later she had a more colorful report.

Milagro is doing so well that now he is able to run after a cat in the lot & make it climb a utility pole. BB says he also started barking at people walking on the sidewalk. We agreed he’s tough only because a chainlink fence separates them.

I feel like BB & I are Milagro’s parents.

A day later still she wrote:

“Making progress in trying to get Milagro to come to me so I can pet him without enticing him with treats,” Elie wrote. “So far it’s working.”

As for what to do next, now that the collar was gone, her goal, Elie wrote to me, was to get Milagro well enough to move him out of the lot and into an adoptive home by the summer.

TO BE CONTINUED

Note: if you have an interest in adopting or foster parenting either Milagro and/or his girl friend Novia (more about Novia later), Elie may be reached at: sparkarooney@yahoo.com

The dogs above are both creatures who need homes. (For contact information, scroll to the end.)

But first, I need to tell you their collective story.

We’ll go back to the messy problems of the city and the county and the nation tomorrow.

For now, get comfortable. This may take a while.

MILAGRO

It all started during the very last days of December when my friend Elie-the-attorney noticed a very sick dog at a vacant lot near Men’s Central Jail.

FYI: Elie Miller is a former hot shot alternate public defender who quit her nice, secure county job to take a giant pay cut as the in-house lawyer for Homeboy Industries.

What you also need to know is that, in addition to being someone who feels called to defend clients that others would prefer to reject (like, say, homeboys and homegirls with criminal records), Elie is a hardcore rescuer of critters.

She happened on this particular dog– a black and tan shepherd and rottweiler mix—while she was walking from the Homeboy office on Bruno and Alameda to meet a client for a conference at Men’s Central Jail. In order to get there she took a shortcut through a humongous vacant lot littered by cracked cement slabs where factory buildings had once stood. Midway across the lot she spotted a male dog who was clearly in a state of high distress.

He was being nearly strangled by a leather collar that was strapped so tightly to his neck that it had cut a circle of sores into his skin that were badly infected. To make matters worse, the collar was constricting his throat in such a way that it made it difficult for him to swallow.

Elie guessed that the dog had been abandoned as a puppy with a puppy-sized collar that remained on his neck as he grew to adulthood.

Appalled at the animal’s condition, and hoping for more information, she cautiously approached a dread-locked homeless man who was watching her watch the dog. The man appeared to live in a sort of lean-to he had erected at the edge of the vacant lot. Not sure if he would talk to her, and if he did, what kind of sense he might or might not be able to make, Elie asked the dread-locked man if he knew anything about the sad creature.

The man, who introduced himself as Beebee, was surprisingly forthcoming and articulate. He figured, he said, the animal had been abandoned by some other homeless people who might have been arrested or simply moved on. Or maybe somebody else dumped him. Beebee had been jittery about approaching the suffering dog, he said, but he’d been setting out some of his own food for the animal daily in hoping to at least keep the dog alive.

Elie told Beebee she would be back later with some provisions.

After thinking things over, Elie decided not to call Animal Control. She worried that they would euthanize the dog as he was obviously in such lousy shape. Better, she thought, to try to do a little ad hoc dog nursing herself. When and if the animal got healthier, she could rethink where to go from there.

Elie named the dog Milagro—miracle—because that’s what she figured she would need to make this work.

She came back that night. And the next day and the next night, and every day and night after that. She brought with her a water bowl, high protein food and even a doorless dog crate shelter of sorts, that a friend gave her. Maybe he’d use it on the days that it rained, she thought. Every day she laid food out in such a way that she gradually lured the hurting dog ever closer to her until finally Milagro got up the courage to snatch hot dogs and other treats from her hand.

Always he ate with desperation, fighting to be able to get the food past the choking collar and down his throat,.

After Milagro was willing to consistently take food while Elie watched, she began a two-week course of antibiotics that she pushed into his nightly meal.

In between her visits, Beebee would watch the dog, giving Elie reports of what had occurred during the day, how the dog was doing, if he seemed to have a set back, or was doing marginally better.

And so began an unlikely rescue operation by an attorney and homeless guy. Beebee told Elie that he was a former navel man who had once worked on a nuclear sub. Elie told Beebee that she was a lawyer and he began calling her “Mrs. Perry Mason.”

Eventually, however, if Milagro was to survive she would have to find a way to get that strangling, ingrown collar off of him.

TO BE CONTINUED THURSDAY

Note: if you have an interest in adopting or foster parenting either Milagro and/or his girl friend Novia (more about Novia tomorrow), Elie may be reached at: sparkarooney@yahoo.com

Posting later today.

In the meantime, watch the eagles of Hornby Island on the real time eagle cam here. They’re wildly cool. The baby is now a lot bigger than the creature in the photo. And very hungry.

And speaking of creatures, a blanket of oil has begun to reach Louisiana’s wetlands, affecting hundreds of species. Here’s what the Wall Street Journal reports.

Back soon.

The combination of the above has reduced me to a quivering puddle of exhaustion. (Particularly the lost, elderly wolf-dog—now thankfully found—who had me frantically hiking through neighbors’ backyards with a flashlight Tuesday Monday* night, then driving around the area until 4:30 in the morning. The neighbors were nice enough not to shoot at me when I was prowling on foot, which I genuinely appreciated. At daybreak Loup-Loup emerged from a hiding place a mile away, wet, disoriented and shivering. A kind person saw her, read her tag and called me. Poor dog. Poor me. All better now.)

As a consequence, I’ll post later in the day.

In the meantime listen to Father Greg on on Patt Morrison’s show.

Back soon.

*I’m clearly having trouble telling the days apart. Sad. Very sad.

WOMEN PRISONERS AT CHOWCHILLA AIM TO HELP VICTIMS

The best research (and my own anecdotal observation) suggests that one of the essential components to transforming one’s life away from gangs and/or a similar law-breaking past requires that one face squarely the harm that one has caused and then give back in some way to one’s community.

Here’s a story from the Fresno Bee about women who are taking a step in that direction.

They’ve robbed. They’ve stolen. They’ve murdered.

But despite their past crimes, nearly 100 women gathered in a prison gym Wednesday to hear how they can help victims of serious crimes. Some wanted to know how they could help the very people they hurt.

The inmates are part of a club at Valley State Prison for Women that focuses on raising money for charitable groups and, as they describe it, repay their debt to society. One of the women in the club, called the Long Termers Organization, sent a three-page letter in August to the Victim Compensation and Government Claims Board — a state agency that distributes about $100 million a year in funds to crime victims in need of health care, therapy or other services as a result of the crimes committed against them. The inmate, Crystal Potter, wanted to know whether the board would be willing to let her club know how they could help.

“We may never gain the trust or the forgiveness of our victims, but to do now what we should have been doing from the very beginning in providing community services would teach us further the morals and values so necessary as a productive member of society,” Potter wrote.

Read the rest.

AN EARLY RELEASE ISSUE? OR A MENTAL HEALTH ISSUE?

Much was made last week over the early release of a 22-year-old man named Kevin Peterson from Sacramento County Jail. Peterson was supposed to serve a four month sentence for whacking a family member in the face with a broom. Instead he was released 18 days early as part of the budget-cutting measures that California counties have put into place since January 1st. (Many counties, however, most notably Los Angeles County, had been shaving time of short jail sentences for the last several years in order to reduce overcrowding at a county level.)

Anyway, within hours after his release, Petersen allegedly attacked a female counselor and attempted to rape her.

And within minutes of Peterson’s rearrest, commentators and partisans were shrieking about the crime wave to come that he represented.

However one enterprising TV station—FOX40 News—bothered to look a little deeper into the story. Most notably, they interviewed Peterson in jail. And guess what? Even Peterson admitted he should be locked up—but not in a jail. He needs to be in a psychiatric facility, he said..

(On the right side of this page, you’ll find a longer version of the video.)

A confused Peterson says he doesn’t remember attacking anyone. He does however remember hearing voices.

“I’m a paranoid schizophrenic,” he said to the TV reporter.. He was hoping to get taken to the Sacramento Mental Health Evaluation Center so that he could get some help. He should be off the street, he said—but in a mental institution, not in jail.

Bottom line: Peterson’s alleged near rape has everything to do with the inadequate mental health screening and treatment inmates receive in county jails.

…But exactly zero to do with the issue of early release.

PS: On the issue of prison population reduction, the Press-Enterprise had a remarkably sane Op Ed on the matter.

THE FIGHT OVER DE-CLAWING CALIFORNIA’S CATS: IT MAY NOT BE OVER .

Annenberg grad student Chris Pisar of Neon Tommy reports that the much ridiculed rush last year by the LA City Council to pass a cat declawing ordinance wasn’t so ridiculous after all. The rush had to do with getting the damn thing passed before a brand new state law went into effect that would have prevented cities and counties from passing their own such regulations.

The California Veterinary Medical Association, which provided the main opposition to the LA ordinance, still wants to do away with the ban. Critics say the vets opposition to the ban is for monetary reasons not for moral ones. (Declawing is a pricey procedure.)

Here’s the rest.

A LOUSY BANK ROBBER BUT GREAT JAILHOUSE LAWYER

In Tuesday’s New York Times Adam Liptak has a story of a mediocre bank robber who, during his decade in prison, made good use of the prison library and transformed himself into a stellar jail house lawyer.

Here’s how it begins:

Shon R. Hopwood was not a particularly sophisticated bank robber.

“We would walk into a bank with firearms, tell people to get down, take the money and run,” he said the other day, recalling five robberies in rural Nebraska in 1997 and 1998 that yielded some $200,000 and more than a decade in federal prison.

Mr. Hopwood spent much of that time in the prison law library, and it turned out he was better at understanding the law than breaking it. He transformed himself into something rare at the top levels of the American bar, and unheard of behind bars: an accomplished Supreme Court practitioner.

Read the rest.

WANT TO READ SOMETHING REASONED AND SENSIBLE ON THE ISSUE OF TRYING KHALID SHEIKH MOHAMMED IN NY?

Try Jane Mayer’s excellent article on the controversy in next week’s New Yorker.

Photo of jailhouse lawyer Shon Hopwood by Alyssa Schukar for The New York Times

HBO has a new movie for television debuting this weekend. It is a bio pic of sorts based on the life and memoirs of writer/biologist Temple Grandin.

If you’re not familiar with Grandin, she is an autistic woman who is considered to be one of the nation’s top animal biologists. She credits her exceptional facility for understanding animals’ fears and needs and actions to the perceptual lens her own autistic condition has—for better and for worse— uniquely provided.

Her 2004 book, Animals in Translation: Using the Mysteries of Autism to Decode Animal Behavior, was easily my favorite book I read that year.

Terry Gross has interviewed Grandin three different times on Fresh Air (once for the release of each one of Grandin’s books). This past Friday, Fresh Air played a compilation of the interviews to coincide with the launching of the HBO movie.

The movie, which would have been all to simple to wreck, is thankfully reported to be excellent. Mary McNamera at the LA Times said it was:

Utterly and gorgeously unsentimental, “Temple Grandin,” arriving Saturday, clomps across the screen with all the wild-eyed grace of its main character, chronicling the life of a woman who not only overcame a host of physical, mental and social obstacles but actually used her autism to create a career for herself in animal husbandry.

The film stars, of all people, Claire Danes, who in the clips that I have heard, is stunningly good.. The Huffington Post says of Danes:

Finally, she has a found a role where she is beyond great, she is stupendous. Claire Danes is revelatory as Temple Grandin animal behaviorist, best-selling author, autistic and expert in autism. This is a fascinating movie and I learned so much about this woman and about autism. Temple did not speak until she was four and if not for her mother would have probably ended up spending her life in an institution. What a loss that would have been.

I’ve got it TiVOed and plan to watch it tonight.. (It is playing off and on during much of the week.)

But, whether or not you watch the movie, at the very least, if you don’t know about Temple Grandin, do yourself a favor listen to the interview mash-up. Her unique and entirely unsentimental ability to feel into an animal’s perspective tells us a great deal about our fellow creatures and also, frankly, about ourselves.

UPDATE:

I saw the film late last night, and it’s so, so incredibly good. Claire Danes is spectacular. She utterly vanishes into being Grandin.

Please, just see it. You’ll thank me. If you don’t have HBO, wait until it’s on DVD and go for it then. But if you miss it, you’ll be missing out. So don’t.

Thursday has been one of those days.

* The stock market tanked Thursday morning based on the newest perception of a stumbling global economy.

*Thursday afternoon Mayor Villaraigosa did what the City Council would not and ordered the layoffs of 1,000 city employees to help balance the city’s budget. (Naturally, the layoffs will pretty much apply only to the poor schlubs who are not represented by a union.)

*And also, Thursday, Scott Brown was sworn in as U.S. Senator meaning, according to the AP’s Laurie Kellman (and run in, among other places, the Washington Post) that “Obama and the Democrats, who still enjoy big majorities in both the House and Senate, can do virtually nothing between now and the November elections without the GOP’s say-so. ” (You know what, AP & WaPo? Screw you. If you can’t say something more insightful than that stale toast, just STFU.)

So…..ahem, now that it’s Thusday evening, I recommend we all take a brief mental health break. Let us all pause and think about….. whales, Nice, big, intelligent whales— leviathans. Actually one whale in particular, a baby who has been hanging around the Malibu Pier for the last few days. (And, yes, I know that whales kill penguins and all that. So don’t leave a comment informing me of this fact. Call me Ishmael. At least whales don’t have lobbyists.)

As of this afternoon, it seems that the little gray whale, who was providing photo ops for anyone who could manage to make the drive to see the seemingly friendly (or at the very least, curious) creature, has wandered off back into the deep blue (in a swimmy kind of way).. But he (she?)—everyone’s been calling the beast Willie—left behind many snapshots like the one below taken by the concessionaires at Malibu Pier.

Okay, now back to the regularly-scheduled dour and fractious stuff we call news.

PS: One more thing: in addition, on Thursday it was reported that a group of 18 scientists from Australia, France and New Zealand are steaming by boat toward Antarctica to challenge—philosophically, not physically—the Japanese scientists who have weaseled around the 1986 international whaling ban and manage to kill around 1000 whales a year in the name of research. The 18 consortium researchers aim to disprove the supposed necessity of whale hunting in the name of science. “We don’t have to kill whales to learn about them,” said one of the Australians.

Indeed. Go scientists. Go whales.

Photo—-and whale updates—by Malibu Pier.

Today, Tuesday, the Supreme Court will hear a very intriguing and important case on whether videos of dog fighting—and other depictions of animal cruelty— should be protected under the First Amendment….or not.

To get a feel for the nuances of the case, listen to the rundown by NPR’s Nina Totenberg. (While Totenberg can at times get on one’s nerves, she is a wonder at taking a court case and explaining it in clear, detailed and lively terms that allow her listeners to form their own informed opinions.)

Here are some clips:

[The case] asks whether the government can make it a crime to sell or possess any depiction of animal cruelty.

The case is about dogfighting videos, but critics argue that it could apply to anything from photos in Field and Stream magazine or hunting videos, to Arnold Schwarzenegger punching a camel in Conan the Barbarian.

In 1999, Congress passed a law aimed initially at “crush videos.” These are videos of women typically in high heels crushing small animals, like mice and kittens — apparently a sexual fetish.

The law, however, has broad language. It makes it a crime to possess or sell any depiction of animal cruelty — specifically the killing, wounding, torturing or mutilation of an animal — as long as the conduct is illegal in the place where the prosecution is brought.

Enter Robert Stevens, a pit bull lover — or exploiter, depending on who is telling the story. He did not make any dogfighting films or stage any fights. Instead, he compiled films made by others of pit bulls fighting mainly in Japan, where it is legal.

Stevens sold the films commercially. He says it was to promote the proper use and training of pit bulls. His critics say it was to make money.

Read the whole thing. It covers the waterfront.

For the record, as much as I am a devoted lover of critters, and as much as I loath and revile practices like dogfighting, I think think the law is too broad and therefore unconstitutional. It should be struck down. And then, I hope, rewritten with more care so that it bans the kind of cruelty it intends—not, say, films of dove hunting or Spanish bullfights.

(And, yes, I did intentionally find one of the cutest and most manipulative possible cat pictures.)

Last October, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to wade into the battle over whether then president George Bush should be able to override a federal judge after that judge ruled that the US Navy would have to modify its use of sonar in training exercises held off the Southern California coast because of compelling evidence that the sonar did harm to whales.

Yet, despite mounds of data showing that sonar was causing whale deaths, in a 6 to 3 decision, the Supremes decided for the Navy and against the whales, the most recent version of centuries worth of conflict between whales and humans.

Still, in the view of many naturalists, the fact that the Supreme Court had been willing to hear the case at all was a welcome step forward. Moreover, after the decision the Navy agreed to do more to protect the whales when conducting its exercises.

Now, says Charles Siebert, writing for the NY Times Magazine, some biologists are beginning to believe that whales might be rewarding the more benign attitude that our species has had toward theirs in the past string of decades by consistently seeking us out in a way that seems…..relational. The huge creatures seem to want contact.

The phenomenon is most notably occurring, writes Siebert, in a particular area of Baja California.

I should note that Siebert occasionally tends to romanticize the great cetaceans that are considered to be among the planet’s most intelligent non-human mammels. But the story he tells of biologists perplexed by this suddenly friendly whale behavior is nonetheless fascinating.

Here are a few clips.

Scientists have now documented behaviors like tool use and cooperative hunting strategies among whales. Orcas, or killer whales, have been found to mourn their own dead. Just three years ago, researchers at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York discovered, in the brains of a number of whale species, highly specialized neurons that are linked to, among other things, the use of language and were once thought to be the exclusive property of humans and a few other primates. Indeed, marine biologists are now revealing not only the dizzying variety of vocalizations among a number of whale species but also complex societal structures and cultures.

Whales, we now know, teach and learn. They scheme. They cooperate, and they grieve. They recognize themselves and their friends. They know and fight back against their enemies. And perhaps most stunningly, given all of our transgressions against them, they may even, in certain circumstances, have learned to trust us again.

[HUGE SNIP]

“I don’t anthropomorphize,” [marine mammal behavioralist named Toni Frohoff] told me. “I leave it to other people to do that. What I do is study gray whales using the same rigorous methodologies that have long been used to study the behaviors of other species and interspecies interaction. Those who would reject out of hand the idea that whales are intelligent enough to consciously interact with us haven’t spent enough time around whales.”

[BIG SNIP]

I thought of another bit of interspecies cooperation involving humpbacks that I recently read about. A female humpback was spotted in December 2005 east of the Farallon Islands, just off the coast of San Francisco. She was entangled in a web of crab-trap lines, hundreds of yards of nylon rope that had become wrapped around her mouth, torso and tail, the weight of the traps causing her to struggle to stay afloat. A rescue team arrived within a few hours and decided that the only way to save her was to dive in and cut her loose.

For an hour they cut at the lines and rope with curved knives, all the while trying to steer clear of a tail they knew could kill them with one swipe. When the whale was finally freed, the divers said, she swam around them for a time in what appeared to be joyous circles. She then came back and visited with each one of them, nudging them all gently, as if in thanks. The divers said it was the most beautiful experience they ever had. As for the diver who cut free the rope that was entangled in the whale’s mouth, her huge eye was following him the entire time, and he said that he will never be the same.

It is worth reading the rest of this enchanting article.

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UPDATE: Both Siebert and biologist Toni Frohoff are interviewed by Terry Gross on today’s Fresh Air. The audio just now went up. I’m listening as I type. Give yourself a treat when you have time. It’ll cheer you up, I promise.

Hearing about members of two different species reaching out to each other makes the world and all of its problems seem like a slightly more manageable place.

Monday on the LA Times animal blog there is a story that manages to combine a holy trinity of favorite WitnessLA issues: gangs, foolish laws….and critters.

(Sadly no wolves or bears are involved, but one cannot have everything in a single story. And while we’re on the subject, are we happy or despondent that the same local newspaper that saw fit to eliminate the Homicide Report and four fifths of the book review section, now has an animal blog? Tough call.)

It seems that the city of Lancaster has decided that a swell way to crack down on gangs is to go after the gang members’ dogs. Or the gang members who have dogs. Or those gangsters who have certain dogs.

Anyway, with this fuzzy notion in mind, Tuesday the city council will vote on a proposed ordinance that would impose harsh penalties on the owners of dogs labeled “potentially dangerous” or “vicious”—namely Rottweilers and Pitt Bulls. Even more controversial is the part of the ordinance that requires all Rottweilers, Pit Bulls and mixed-breeds with the physical characteristics of either Rotts or Pits, to be spayed or neutered.

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UPDATE: They indeed passed the thing. The LA Times has the story here along with some more…uh… notable quotes from the mayor.

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“I want gangs out of Lancaster,” Mayor R. Rex Parris told a local interviewer. “I want to make it uncomfortable for them to be here. Anything they like, I want to take it away from them. I want to deliberately harass them….”

Alrighty then. And a happy civil liberties day to you too, Mister Mayor. (So, is it me or does the concept of a mayor named R. Rex Parris strike you as a bit Batman comic books-ish?)

It seems, however, that not all the good citizens of Lancaster are quite as enthusiastic about Mayor Parris’s new gang strategy as he is. In fact, many law abiding residents also have Rotts and Pits and don’t like being told what they may or may not do with their family pets.

As the devoted owner of a breed that could arguably make the “potentially dangerous” list—namely Loup-Loup-the-wolf dog—I can understand the Lancasterites disgruntled position on the topic. (When we were deciding whether or not to adopt one of my neighbor’s part wolf puppies I ran into all manner of literature, plus a slew of well-meaning “experts,” that warned us against the ghastly dangers of wolf hybrids. We are still waiting for Loup-Loup to turn on us. Thus far, it’s been a 14-year wait.)

Part of the ordinance makes good sense in that it would levy heavy penalties against anyone owning a dog that bites or repeatedly menaces people.

Personally, I have exactly zero tolerance for people who allow dogs that bite to roam free. Ditto for idiots who think it’s cool to train household dogs to be vicious, a practice that all too often involves mistreatment of the creatures.

Mandatory spaying and neutering has much to be said for it too. But designations of “potentially dangerous,” plus enforced sterilization, levied against only certain breeds regardless of training and temperament is….stupid. And a legal slippery slope—especially when, under the ordinance, a single officer can determine whether or not a dog should be destroyed.

Viewing all of the above as a good gang suppression tactic is….what’s the term I’m looking for?…Oh, yeah…..moronic.

When a crowd of dog owners showed up to a recent Lancaster City Council meeting, pets along with them, according to the LA Times there were some memorable exchanges.

For instance, at one point dog trainer A.J. Listman asked the mayor (who is also a personal injury lawyer) what he would do “when these gang members that you’re trying to target move on to Dobermans or German Shepherds? You going to restrict them too?”

“If they move on to cats,” the Times reports Parris responded, “I’m going to take their cats.”

(sigh.) Some people parody themselves.

PS: NOTE TO MAYOR REX PARRIS: I don’t want to trigger a brand new ordinance or anything, and maybe it’s just my luck, but I seem to know an inordinate number of gang members, or former gang members with kids and families, who have Chihuahuas as pets. Do you also have plans for the Chihuahuas? Just curious.

Photo by Susan Beveridge