"Humane" Misnomer
Amazing how language is used to project an image. The word "humane" is one that is generally acknowledged to express an idea, a philosophy of the right and the only way to go about challenging the difficulties faced in an unjust world. The word "humanitarian" one that conjures up images of caring, concerned people doing their utmost to make a better world for us all.
In society there are always people who use and abuse one another. As human beings, that is. Those who have somehow not been apportioned a requisite and fundamental emotion linked to care and compassion. These are also people who bring animals into their households as companions and who neglect them and abuse them. Society looks to institutions like area human societies to look to the interests of such animals who need help and rescue.
And then there are the well-meaning people who adopt animals without realizing that there is an economic cost to so doing, that accompanies the emotional investment. And who, at the end of the day, when their pet becomes ill or becomes the victim of an unfortunate accident, are unable to pay for costly veterinary care. One can imagine that veterinarians are loathe to offer free services too broadly. For fear of being taken advantage of.
Veterinarian fees are extremely costly. There are protocols and surgeries, pharmaceuticals and diagnostic equipment that can easily match the cost of anything available to cope with human ill health. And many people simply cannot afford these services. The Ottawa Humane Society evidently informs pet owners that they will undertake to provide required veterinarian services if the pet owners sign over ownership to them.
Someone who loves a pet and who finds themselves in a truly desperate situation will obviously do anything to protect the life of that pet, even if it means abandoning that beloved pet to other owners. And so it was with Sari Paluna, whose female boxer was pregnant, but unable to give birth to the apparently still-born pups she carried. Initial veterinarian care the owner sought was unsuccessful.
She was informed that her pet would require emergency surgery if the hormone used to induce labour did not perform. The surgery would cost $2,100. A sum the woman did not possess. Her veterinarian said she would agree to performing the surgery with half the cost given upfront, but there wasn't even half the cost of the surgery available to the woman, given the urgency of the situation.
Finally, she agreed in desperation to sign over her companion dog Holly, to the Ottawa Humane Society. A veterinarian there did perform emergency surgery. And then Ms. Paluna was informed the next morning by a humane society veterinary technician that Holly had been 'put down'. "The whole point of bringing her there was for her to get surgery. I ran out of time for getting the money to do it myself", she said.
The veterinarian who performed the surgery explained that though Holly "was stable", her "vital signs normal", when brought in, complications ensued during surgery, persuading the society to euthanize Holly to avoid what they claim would have been a prospective painful and prolonged recovery. Obviously the society was not willing to invest time and labour to nurse the dog back to health, post-surgery. But the previous owner, Ms. Paluna, certainly would have.
She was not offered the opportunity. The Humane Society appears to have a policy where it does not re-unite pets with their previous owners, when the pet has been given over to them. The decision to take the dog's life was cavalier, uncaring, unaffected, emotionally remote. A disgrace to both the veterinary profession and to an institution that claims it is humanely involved.
In society there are always people who use and abuse one another. As human beings, that is. Those who have somehow not been apportioned a requisite and fundamental emotion linked to care and compassion. These are also people who bring animals into their households as companions and who neglect them and abuse them. Society looks to institutions like area human societies to look to the interests of such animals who need help and rescue.
And then there are the well-meaning people who adopt animals without realizing that there is an economic cost to so doing, that accompanies the emotional investment. And who, at the end of the day, when their pet becomes ill or becomes the victim of an unfortunate accident, are unable to pay for costly veterinary care. One can imagine that veterinarians are loathe to offer free services too broadly. For fear of being taken advantage of.
Veterinarian fees are extremely costly. There are protocols and surgeries, pharmaceuticals and diagnostic equipment that can easily match the cost of anything available to cope with human ill health. And many people simply cannot afford these services. The Ottawa Humane Society evidently informs pet owners that they will undertake to provide required veterinarian services if the pet owners sign over ownership to them.
Someone who loves a pet and who finds themselves in a truly desperate situation will obviously do anything to protect the life of that pet, even if it means abandoning that beloved pet to other owners. And so it was with Sari Paluna, whose female boxer was pregnant, but unable to give birth to the apparently still-born pups she carried. Initial veterinarian care the owner sought was unsuccessful.
She was informed that her pet would require emergency surgery if the hormone used to induce labour did not perform. The surgery would cost $2,100. A sum the woman did not possess. Her veterinarian said she would agree to performing the surgery with half the cost given upfront, but there wasn't even half the cost of the surgery available to the woman, given the urgency of the situation.
Finally, she agreed in desperation to sign over her companion dog Holly, to the Ottawa Humane Society. A veterinarian there did perform emergency surgery. And then Ms. Paluna was informed the next morning by a humane society veterinary technician that Holly had been 'put down'. "The whole point of bringing her there was for her to get surgery. I ran out of time for getting the money to do it myself", she said.
The veterinarian who performed the surgery explained that though Holly "was stable", her "vital signs normal", when brought in, complications ensued during surgery, persuading the society to euthanize Holly to avoid what they claim would have been a prospective painful and prolonged recovery. Obviously the society was not willing to invest time and labour to nurse the dog back to health, post-surgery. But the previous owner, Ms. Paluna, certainly would have.
She was not offered the opportunity. The Humane Society appears to have a policy where it does not re-unite pets with their previous owners, when the pet has been given over to them. The decision to take the dog's life was cavalier, uncaring, unaffected, emotionally remote. A disgrace to both the veterinary profession and to an institution that claims it is humanely involved.
Labels: Charity, Companions, Health, Ottawa
posted by Pieface @ 6:19 PM
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