Ok, today was better. I know I'm doing well at the office now. I got a tonne of stuff off my desk today - my boss commented on it from out of town. And I had a good chat with the two gals who are still in the office. I'm not the only one feeling the workaholic pressure, and I think we've all agreed that while our boss is a workaholic, we don't think she necessarily expects all of us to be the same. She just doesn't preach what she thinks.
I had a horrible event this evening when I came home from work. I'm not quite up to typing all about it again, so here's a copy of the letter I wrote my city councillor:
"Mr. T,
A while back I had contacted you about some concerns we had - mostly regarding traffic and garbage collection. I want to thank you for following up with us, and must say both issues have vastly improved.
This evening, I'm writing about a different, more heart wrenching concern.
When I got off the bus this evening, just before 5:30, a stray dog followed me home - a large, tricolour hound mix of some sort. The dog seemed friendly enough, well behaved... but I had never seen him on our outings around the neighbhourhood with our own dog and kids. I snapped one of my leashes on him, and took him around to a few neighbours to see if they recognized him. One noted she and her son had seen him wandering around Louis-St-Laurent and Parker nearly an hour earlier. So, I took him home, put him in our yard and called 311.
The gentleman there told me stray dogs were a service of the SPCA and transferred me. The woman who answered at the SPCA told me they don't collect stray dogs - that it's a city service, and that no one is available to pick up after 5. This strikes me as so ridiculous - dogs don't only get lost between 9 and 5. This is not the first time we encounter a stray dog as we get home from work! She told me I had to keep him overnight. But I have two young kids and a large dog of my own. I'm afraid I don't have the ability to hold on to a large dog overnight! So the SPCAs answer? I had to release him back on the street. It broke my heart, but I did. Imagine trying to explain those actions to a 2 and 3 year old who can't stop worrying what will happen to the poor dog in -16 weather. I only hope someone else is kind hearted enough to take him in, and that they have the capacity to hold him indoors overnight.
And, in case city councillors aren't dog lovers, I think the issue of community safety needs to be considered, too. This particular dog seemed truly wonderful. But imagine if it was a very large aggressive dog that was roaming the neighbourhood overnight, because it didn't have the good fortune to escape its home between 9-5?
It is inconceivable that dogs can only be rescued in this city until 5 pm. I was told I could drop him off at the shelter, but only until 6. Of course it was impossible for me to make the trek across town in under 25 minutes.
I called back 311 to complain. There I was told once again that stray dogs are an SPCA service (do you see a pattern? No wonder no one is picking up the animals, they all seem to think it's someone else's job) and that as such, he couldn't really take my complaint. At my insistence, he took it anyway, but I doubt it will lead anywhere.
I worked for five years in animal welfare. I can guarantee you that this level of animal control services is completely unacceptable, and is nowhere near the levels offered by the vast majority of Canadian cities. It is an embarassment. Yet somehow, it is completely in-line with this city's policy on dogs: a city that refuses to give them the right to get the exercise they need through an off-leash dog park (or even to walk on-leash through so many of our beautiful parks), and a city that refuses to give them the assistance they need when they are lost or injured.
I hope you will agree that this situation is unacceptable. We pay dog licensing fees to help fund animal control services in this city - yet the services we receive are nowhere near what they should be for a large, modern, and supposedly family-centred city like ours.
T."
That's it for this evening. I'm finishing my class of wine and munching on some chips. I'm just so dang productive in the evening lately.
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