Jane Dog (as in Jane Doe, just canineized) is the name given to a dog here in Nashville who lost her life in a most violent way. A dog without a name and without any owners ever stepping forth to claim she had belonged to them. Her story infuriated all who heard it and made many speak up and want to make sure justice was delivered to those who harmed her.
Jane Dog’s Story
It happened last summer. June 2007 to be more precise. Five boys set a dog on fire. For fun. Just to see what would happen.
What happened?
The dog suffered the most horrendous kind of torture and death imaginable. The boys poured gasoline on the dog, then put a lighter to her. The dog ran, making the flames worse. When she tried to lick herself to get the flames off, her face and whiskers caught on fire.
Part of the incident was gleaned from an eye witness (who heard the dog’s screams then looked to see what was happening and saw the ball of fire flying down the street). The other part came from the boys.
Awful.
The Push for Justice
Animal rights advocates are speaking out and pushing for the maximum penalty possible. Which isn’t much, so they’re also pushing for legislation to up the penalty for animal abuse to a felony charge in the state.
Three of the five boys were sentenced to counseling back in April. The other two are set to attend a sentencing hearing this month. Everyone’s hoping they’ll get jail time of some sort, but it’s doubtful. The laws just aren’t in place to justify it from what I gather.
But given the response this case elicited, some good came of Jane Dog’s story. It raised awareness about how lacking the laws are and how they need changing.
Take a Life, Any Life, Get a Felony
I hope the day will come when justice will be served. When we as a people start understanding that all life, not just human life, is valuable and precious. So sacred in fact that if you harm, abuse, or take it away you will lose your own life. (In jail. Not so much talking about eye for an eye, capital punishment type justice. Although in some cases that might not be such a bad idea…)
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