A True Angel

Anyone who has been reading this blog over the past year or so knows about my beloved dog, Jake, who walked by my side for many years before I lost him in 2006. I would have done ANYTHING for him – and I did, right up until the end.

There is a story about another dog named Jake, and the woman who did everything SHE could for him – Tammy Grimes. Back in January I wrote about Tammy, and the organization she founded, Dogs Deserve Better. In 2006 Tammy intervened on behalf of Jake, a very old German Shepherd mix, who lay near death in his backyard for three days, unable to move and without food or water.

The story of the trial that followed Tammy’s intervention is posted at the Best Friends Animal Society Website:

http://news.bestfriends.org/index.cfm?page=news&fps=1&mode=entry&entry=84A30FC1-19B9-B9D5-9D2F2891978D9E51

This should bring tears to the eyes of any human being with a heart, whether or not you share your life with an animal. I have to wonder if the Pennsylvania judge who handed down the sentence in this sad case is familiar with the work of humanitarian, and Nobel Peace Prize winner, Dr. Albert Schweitzer. Here are two relevant quotes from this great man:

“A man is truly ethical only when he obeys the compulsion to help all life which he is able to assist, and shrinks from injuring anything that lives.”

“Compassion, in which all ethics must take root, can only attain its full breadth and depth if it embraces all living creatures and does not limit itself to mankind.”

Perhaps the judge needs to post these words on her chambers door, and read them each and every time she steps into the courtroom.

Chris