My Crimson Brush with Animal Cruelty

[Jonathan Wolfman]

 

 

 

     The Harvard Classics, published in 1910, is a fifty-one volume gorgeous leather-bound set of books, the Western canon in literature, sciences, philosophy, and the arts. The set I have has in each of its volumes the fountain pen signature of its original owner, a woman from New Orleans; southern Louisiana is where I found them. A fellow living in a parish perhaps fifty miles north of New Orleans, my internet search told me, had a "book shop in my home", and had an original set. He was willing not only to part with it for an astonishingly small price but willing, too, at his expense, to box and ship all the volumes, all with their glorious old-book smell, all with their sturdy crimson and gold bindings intact, and with just a few pages frayed. I have now read numbers of the volumes, not in order, but following my moods. I have enjoyed again Shakespeare, Plato, Montaigne, St. Augustine...so many thinkers and movers of minds. I'm nowhere near, of course, finished.

 

     The seller, a relatively young southern man by his voice  --  I called as well as emailed him to make arrangements  --  spoke to me over what was a fair din of voices, domesticated animal howls, and the voice of a woman calling to dogs to "come on out back! Supper, y'all!" At the time I thought nothing of it although there was, when I thought back on the call, a lot of barking in the background. My set arrived within the week and after the thrill of shelving them and deciding which ones to tackle first, after my initial excitement ebbed, I recalled the dogs. I did an internet search again, this time not keying on the book shop name but on the seller's.

 

     This is what I found.

 

    

    

     The booksellers, husband and wife, had been listed (with their address) by several local organizations as having been suspected of animal cruelty and were on one organization's "watch list". One post said this couple at one time had well over fifty dogs "of many breeds". These were charges only and informal, not from any state agency and nothing like an indictment.

 

     Yet those howls stayed with me.

 

     Maybe a year later, having read perhaps half the volumes he'd sent me, I looked up the fellow again. There had been not only indictments but convictions and the "book shop in my home" had been shuttered. Shut down, too, was the couple's three-acre shabby, soiled, ranch-style property along with their routine near-starvation of dogs (despite the call to supper I'd heard on the phone). There had been on that property over fifty dogs of several breeds.

 

 

     Among my first thoughts was that I hoped these two had no human children.

 

 

 

     I never found out. I suppose I might have been able to but I didn't want to find out. People willing to be cruel to their animals are nearly as willing to be cruel to their kids. Numbers of studies suggesting that have been recently released and various states are taking measures to coordinate among animal and child protection agencies. Neglecting and hurting animals can be a sign that people will neglect and hurt their kids.

 

 

     I'm pleased states are now tightening inter-agency coordination and handing out penalties for even one instance of animal abuse. One inclined to do that, even once, should not have kids and there's an argument to be made that the state should take not only the abused animal but the potentially abused child. In fact, I'd make the argument that a child living alongside animal abuse, particularly a smaller child, is already abused.

 

 

 

     I still cherish my Harvard Classics. I wish, though, that their beautiful crimson bindings didn't so sadly recall for me those howling dogs.

 

 

---

Here's a detailed piece on what various states are doing.

Animal Abuse as Clue to Additional Cruelties - NYTimes.com

[koshersalaami]

Odd association with the classics

[Steel Breeze]

although i completely agree with you on your premise,i know of a few 'animal cruelty' cases which were actually misguided attempts by some people to save abandoned animals and they got in way over their abilities.naturally the media doesn't report it that way,not sensational enuff.your right,i've some people with their animals and can only think,god i hope they don't have kids.

[Jonathan Wolfman]

Kosh  absolutely. Life is one strange series of connections, yes?

[Jonathan Wolfman]

steel   you're right and i do become skeptical when i see the sensational stuff   w the people in this story, to my knowledge it was not made into a news sensation

[Mimetalker]

Agree with Steel...they sound like they got over their heads...or maybe are hoarders. As always...your posts are interesting. :)

[alsoknownas]

I would posit that if people are willing to be cruel to their pets that they are "nearly" as willing to be cruel to their children lacks the connection needed to be measurable. I would be interested in reading one or more of those studies however if you have time to cite them.

 I don't think cruelty is the factor here either. It's certainly neglect, and shows a lack of sense, as others have noted here that seems more so typical of a hoarder's plight, i.e., a belief they are doing right when an outsider can see entirely different results.

Two pit bulls and/or a kid chained to a post in the back yard is cruelty. Those are the cases that merit action.

 

[Jonathan Wolfman]

AKA    I believe the link (above) may provide some add'l information.  Thanks!

[Green Monkey]

I was thinking the same thing, hoarders. awhile back, I bought a pug puppy from a breeder I located in the paper. He turned out to have an ulcer on his eyes. When I told her about his condition she told me I could bring him back but that she would then "toss him in the dumpster" - I kept him, he had surgery. I spent a small fortune. he was blind in one eye. years later I saw her on the news. arrested for tossing sick dogs in a dumpster. I honestly never believed she'd do it. I should have reported her then. 

[Jonathan Wolfman]

Green    it's not always easy to believe, at times, what we see/hear.

[alsoknownas]

Thanks. Didn't see it in the lighter type face. Will read later.