I’ve been out of the animal welfare business for some time, but my ears perk when I see a story about animals. Several people were injured when bringing their dogs into a Florida Walmart. I know you get tired of hearing me say that pet owners are the weak link in pet ownership. Taking your dogs into a grocery store is beyond stupid. Don’t get excited, I think allowing small children to run loose in stores is also stupid.
We’ve all seen incidents in which we see pets and children running amok in public. The problem is that if you attempt to bring correction, you only get hostilities in return. We all know someone who shouldn’t have had children or pets. The problem with these people is that not only do they learn slowly, they forget fast. It’ll probably be a few days, and these people will be bringing their pets back in again. And as in the past, they will be looking the other way when their children or pets start pulling items off the shelves or fouling the aisles.
I know, some of you are saying that these were probably service animals needed by their owners. Look, the ADA created a scam that is widely abused. You can go online and buy vests claiming your dog is a service animal. Knowing how far we tend to take things, I wouldn’t be surprised to hear about a person getting bitten by a rattlesnake that is in public as a service animal. From my experience as an animal control officer, I would say that 90% of the service animals out there are fake. Of course, my estimate might be on the low side.
This is one area where we are too tolerant of others.