Tammy Grimes goes on trial next week

bubbatd

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#3
The law against compassion . Hope that there are a lot of dog lovers on the jury .
 

bubbatd

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#5
I agree !!! I hope that she has help with the fees . It's too late to send the Judge a letter now as to our feelings , but if Tammy wins the case , let's congratulate the Judge on her decision .
 

Tazwell

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#6
Now how come this kinda stuff doesn't show up on CNN and Greta Vansustren?
 

Herschel

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#7
Sadly, if she is being accused of theft, she is probably going to lose. The court needs to determine whether Tammy broke the current laws regarding the unlawful removal of property. She did.

The circumstances absolutely justify her actions, but that isn't in question. The law may change in the future as a result of Tammy's situation, but it sounds like she is going to pay the price for doing the right thing.

No good deed goes unpunished.
 
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#8
I'll probably get stoned for this, but by this going to trial, if she's found guilty, she becomes a martyr for the anti-tethering movement, and it will simply give steam to those who like to liberate other peoples' dogs. I don't know if the circumstances in this particular case made her actions right or wrong -- I read that he reportedly couldn't stand up for 3 days, but I also am pretty sure that a dog doesn't get that old by being neglected -- but I am concerned about where this is going to lead. I wonder if there will be a push to make dog theft legal if the person doing the stealing thinks the dog is being mistreated.
 

Sweet72947

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#10
I understand where you are coming from Baha and its a legitimate concern. I just wanted to say that if a dog is left unable to stand for three days, even if the owners weren't neglecting him in terms of food and water, they had obviously neglected to get the dog much needed medical treatment.

And nobody seems to remember that white shepherd pictured on a chain next to the dog that had been "stolen". If Tammy Grimes just wanted to steal dogs off chains, I would think she would have taken him too...
 

lakotasong

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#11
Tammy was found guilty of theft and receiving stolen property. Let's all keep her in our thoughts. God bless her for giving Doogie a chance to experience love and compassion before he died.
 

Tazwell

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#13
Meh, you win some, you lose some... We all know she wasn't guilty. I'm sure she doesn't regret it.


What was her sentence?
 
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#15
Of course if she'd been found innocent, then again, it would send people the message that its okay to take dogs if you think they're being mistreated. Meh, I don't know. She didn't even let the vet do bloodwork to see what was wrong with the dog, so I guess I'm not really convinced that her motive was noble. I think she knew the kind of publicity this would bring for her organization.
 

Lilavati

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#17
BTW, I just read that her sentence is probation.
I think that works, a message is sent that this is not acceptable, but the punishment is mild, in recognition of her motives. We don't want to send the message that people can just think they can take animals they think are mistreated. If only because they may be wrong:

My landlord has a cat (indoor-outdoor cat, but that's allowed here) who limps. She's limped for the past 5 years, due to a serious injury she got before they adopted her. They paid good money to fix it, and its healed, just leaving a limp. She's healthy and well fed (I'm not to happy with the indoor-outdoor thing, but its legal, so . . . ). A woman who volinteered at the humane society saw her limping and snatched her up and took her away. There ensued hours of panic while her owners tried to find her (She never goes far from their house). Finally she was found at the humane society, where they spent hours trying to spring her and answering accusations of abuse. They ended up having to pay money to spring her, on the grounds that the humane society had boarded her for two days.

Sometimes, people "rescue" animals that dont' need it. It sounds like the dog in this story did. . . but its not good to encourage people to think they can do this with impunity.
 

HoundedByHounds

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#18
Her sentence was fair...for a first time offense...likely it will get heftier if she continues. But now she can use the donations etc to help change the laws in her area and surrounding...that is, IMO the proper legal way to help dogs she feels are being neglected.
 
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#19
Sometimes, people "rescue" animals that dont' need it. It sounds like the dog in this story did. . . but its not good to encourage people to think they can do this with impunity.
Well... right! That's pretty much my concern. Before I started fattening up my young dogs for shows, we would take them out and people would constantly comment on how skinny they were. If someone saw a dog like this on a tie-out in a yard, would they assume she was abused and steal her?



Our male pup has a more barrel-ish ribcage, so its even more noticeable when he's not carrying extra weight. But abused? Mistreated? Neglected? Needing rescue? Hardly. Undoubtedly our dogs eat better than many, and live better than many, in the house. But snap judgements can ruin peoples' lives. (I blogged that, after someone snap-judged me as a dog fighter because I was selling a treadmill.)

I realize that in this case, the evidence can be fairly condemning against the dog's owner, but I also haven't heard their side yet. What if the owner had to go in the hospital? What if the dog had seen a vet already, and the vet said there was nothing that could be done, that it was simply extreme old age taking its toll? Maybe he was tied outside because he was incontinent. No muscle tone, dehydration: are these things that can happen to an old dog naturally? I don't know; I'm not a vet. That the dog died 6 months later indicates to me that the "rescuing" did not appreciably extend his already impressive life, but was most likely very confusing for him.

All I'm saying is, we don't want people thinking they can play judge and jury on their own. They need to go through the proper channels. So I'm glad there was some kind of repercussions in this case.
 

Sweet72947

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#20
All I'm saying is, we don't want people thinking they can play judge and jury on their own. They need to go through the proper channels.
You make a good point. But if I recall the details correctly they did try to go through the proper channels, and the "proper channels" didn't give a hoot.

On the one hand, you don't want people to go willy nilly stealing other people's animals. On the other, what do you do when the legal way doesn't do a thing?
Maybe what should be focused on is modifying the laws so that "food, water and shelter" isn't all that's required. I've read stories about dogs with embedded collars, living in the cold in crappy doghouses with no insulation suffering illness, and AC can't do anything because the dogs have "food, water and shelter".

But there are no easy answers.
 

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