Not about Shibas, but of interest to any dog lover

Arkansas city releases shelter dogs into national forest

I wish to Dog this was an Onion news article, but it's not.

"They are better off free," Mayor James Valley said Thursday. "Pardon the pun, but it was just something that was dogging us. So it would be easier for us until we get a facility and have a plan that we just not be in the animal shelter business."

Here is a blog entry with a letter from the mayor concerning the incident.

...we are or have released all but a few our those animals heretofore housed at the sanitation shop. We fed and watered them and took them to the St. Francis National Forest and released them to freedom.

Isn't it ironic that St. Francis of Assisi is the patron saint of animals? Unfortunately the St. Francis National Forest is not the patron park of domestic dogs. Bear, coyote, and alligators are all residents of the park, as well as bats, raccoons and foxes which can carry rabies. Valley has just released ten potential vectors of rabies, not to mention species-specific diseases. Not to mention the fact that Valley states that "[o]ne of our animal control officers has been to the hospital three times in as many months. Twice for bites and once for a severely sprained ankle growing out of incidents with these animals". What happens when these hungry dogs come across people? Kids coming home from school? Pet animals? Livestock?

Do not just point fingers at the mayor! Gloria Higginbotham, director of the Humane Society of the Delta stated that "the animals were “better off” fending for themselves."

Well, looky here: Mayor Valley's Journal where he tells us that he can be reached at City Hall, 98 Plaza Street, (72390); (870)572-3421 Telephone (870)572-5034 Facsimile (870)817-4035 Cellular Phone. His mailing address is P O Box 248, Helena-West Helena, AR (72342).

This looks like his website, but note it has a different mailing address.

Humane Society of the Delta website; phone: (870) 589-3396. The contact page on the website gives some different numbers: (870) 816-5979 and (870) 572-2902

I wonder how long these people would survive if dumped out in buttfuck nowhere with no food, no shelter, no tools, and no knowledge of how to survive.