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Thursday, June 05, 2008

Editorial: Stray Dog Problem Won't Solve Itself



      A 3-year-old girl was attacked by a pack of stray dogs on Monday morning.
    Is anyone really surprised about this?
    The girl will live through the ordeal with scars all over her body, made from four dogs trying to tear her apart.
    But what about the next time? And there will be a next time, there always is.
    Most anyone who lives in the East Mountains or Estancia Valley can tell you a story about strays, about neighbors' dogs getting into chicken coops, about being chased down.
    Each time the issue comes up, our elected officials say they are aware of the problem and there are laws on the books and something will be done. It never happens.
    Efforts to build a regional animal shelter are fizzling away, and no government budget in our communities have been increased for animal services.
    No one can blame them though. A girl gets mauled, we write about it in the newspaper and shake our heads. A brief spark of outrage flickers and within a couple of weeks its gone. The status quo remains.
    So we must ask ourselves and our elected officials this question:
    How many kids have to get mauled before we do something about the problem of strays?
   

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