For the love of animals

The other night I saw a car near my house with a huge dent in its back end and heard a dog crying inside, then a growling male voice yelling, “quiet.” After that there was no sound.

I wondered how I could help make this a safer world for animals. They love us. How can we love them back?

There’s a lot of suffering that goes on behind closed doors because people are scared to say something. As Temple Grandin said, “One of the worst cases of separation anxiety was a dog who broke off its teeth trying to escape from a yard where he was alone all day.” No one spoke up.

Nobody wants to face a vicious neighbor or create conflict, but don’t turn away when you can help.

I was anxious about it myself, but supported by Animal Defenders of Sonoma County. I took a big breath and asked my neighbor to get her cat a collar with a bell on it, explaining that the biggest reason for the disappearance of the bird kingdom is cats killing them.

The next week I saw her kitty with collar and bell! I nervously chuckled over the fence, “terrific, you got a collar.” She chimed, “I bought five!”

There are many reasons to care. Animals feel. They’re a part of community. They only ask for kindness. Jane Goodall spent years “recording and studying animals to find that dogs can feel empathy, elephants suffer emotional trauma; birds can reason and solve problems.” Animals rescue people, run for help, protect in loyalty. Remember the dog that dug his beloved couple free from being buried for hours in a snowstorm?

At a zoo, a three-year-old boy tumbled to the bottom of a gorilla pit. The gorillas moved in on the boy; onlookers gasped. A mother gorilla, with a baby on her back, reached the boy. She stopped males coming close with a straight-arm gesture, gently picked up the child and carried him to the sliding door. She let him down and stepped away. The footage showed a caring animal coming to the aid of a vulnerable child.

Remember the pig, Lulu, whose guardian suffered a heart attack? Lulu ran to the highway, laid out in the middle of the road, cars wheeling around her. Finally, a driver followed her back and called paramedics. The woman was saved. The man who stopped should have gotten an award and Lulu deserved more than the jelly doughnut they gave her. I wish everybody who rescues animals and animals that save people in Sonoma County received awards, some sort of recognition.

Then again, it’s about doing the kind and humane thing. We can stop neglect and abuse towards living creatures. We know that cruelty exists everywhere, from “guardians” who don’t walk their dogs or leave water to those who leave a half hunted or tortured animal in agony for weeks

Let’s see those tails wagging. We know the suffering of animals throughout the world, the horror stories. How do we change it? Say something. Write something. Speak up, follow up.

There is a correlation between animal abuse, family violence and other forms of community harm. Child and animal protection professionals have recognized such a link, noting that abuse of both children and animals is connected in a self-perpetuating cycle of violence. When animals are abused or neglected, it is a warning that others in the household may not be safe, children who witness animal abuse are at a greater risk of becoming abusers.

A cell picture or video can save innocent lives. Call 707.565.2121, or 911. Animals can’t speak, will you?

 Katy Byrne, MFT Psychotherapist, Sonoma, Ca. 707.548.8982.