DUMPING BINS - CATALYST for TheDogPlace

I am writing this in the first person because there is no way I can do so as a journalist. In 1998, I received a newspaper clipping. Readers send stuff for my magazine columns but sickened, I laid this one aside. The story was about a Tennessee pet dumping bin and the AP photo was shocking.

Went on with my day. But I kept seeing that father holding his little boy over a steel "dumpster" so the child could drop the puppy he was dangling by one leg into the steel bin haunted me. I saw the puppy struggling upside down, his soft baby ligaments tearing, his big brown eyes wide with terror as he heard the "help us" death wails of other dogs, and I could imagine the puppy's gasp as he was released to tumble down the chute into a melee of agony below.

The father's face haunted me too. He was grinning. The little boy was braced against his dad's thigh but held tightly around the waist so that he could lean waaaay out over to drop the struggling puppy into the bin. Thankfully, the child's face was not visible. Didn't matter. What I saw was a child learning the rules of a society wallowing in self-centered indulgence, violence, and cruelty.

Thoughts tumbled like demons. Sure, we're a throw-away society. So? Why not throw away a puppy? And, stupid me, isn't it perfectly logical that we would dump garbage in a dumpster? To that family, the unwanted puppy was nothing but garbage.

I wondered how long the puppy would survive in wherever the bin led? A kitten's little heart would have failed from fright as it landed and realized it was surrounded by angry, frantic dogs. Then I realized, even a puppy wouldn't last long. The heat-maddened dogs would dispatch it quickly.

The photo showed a gap of about an inch around the bottom of the bin. How much air could it draw in through that slot? What would be the temperature of air radiated off black asphalt, super-heated by reported temperatures in the high nineties? There was a brick wall behind the dumping bin... hot air radiating off the "humane society" building.

Surely they would die quickly? Perhaps that was the point. A quick death in the dumping bin saves that county a lot of money - no gas chamber, injection or whatever else they might have to use on any survivors. And of course, there would be lower payroll, and less "care" costs because a rendering plant could just come and pick up the bodies after the sun had done its work.

The article said local people are working to stop it. But didn't the article say it had been that way for a long time? Then I recalled hearing about some sort of "dump" right here in North Carolina. I didn't believe it then. I believe it now.

My husband drove to the next county and took this photo. No dumping bin "incinerators" but look closely, see the signs? The dog or cat must be shoved through the small opening above the head high gate - hitting the pavement from a height of over six feet!

OK, credit to Rutherford County, they put signs up so you know not to drop a litter of kittens down into the dog cage. Sure. No kid would think of doing that on a dare or just because he wanted to see the fun….

Well, at least the animals can get air if they survive the drop onto the hard pavement to face hostile dogs and cats.

I called and spoke with Officer Reeves. The Rutherford County Animal Shelter is operated by the Sheriff's Department. He assured me pets are taken inside within a matter of hours, even on the weekends when the shelter (?) is closed. (Ergo, it's pretty hard to adopt if you are a working family.)

Officer Reeves said the vet comes three times a week but if the dog or cat is injured bad enough, the staff is trained and can go ahead and put it to sleep by lethal injection. The deputy sounded like a regular guy. A family man. Protector of the community. I believed him when he said that part of his job "made him sick." I asked him how many pets are dumped there? He said it averaged over 5,000 pets per year. The county-wide population is only 56,918 people! 10% pet abandonment? What are we doing?

A week of mental torment finally subsided when out of the blue, I was given the best possible means to fight this. Politicians, budget managers, idiots; they only listen when their jobs are in jeopardy! It takes a big, big voice to get the ear of a corrupt law-maker. It takes a lot of voters to get an ego-driven politician to stop stumping long enough to actually do something for the constituents whose vote he seeks.

So now you know how TheDogPlace came to be. I know nothing about computers but the internet is growing! TheDogPlace is the voice of the people and it is the sound of OUTRAGE. It is your enlightened voice that will serve the dogs, the people, and these Projects. If ever there could be a shred of good out of something so horrible, then we owe that callous father and the depraved officials of one Tennessee town a debt of thanks.

My sanity came back because I found a way to deal with the horror. I hope you find a way too. Ignoring monsters doesn't make them go away.

Barbara "BJ" Andrews
Photographer, Bill Andrews

Update August 2008 We are told most pet dumping bins are no longer in use. Amazing what shining a light on just one dark corner of our society can do. Thank You to all TheDogPlace readers who checked out their local community and put an end to this horrific practice.

Copyright © 1999-2008 TheDogPlace.org - Under penalty of law, no portions thereof may be otherwise stored or reprinted in any form, without prior express written consent. Reprint rights will always be granted provided a full link to this page is included. Contact NetPlaces, LLC P.O. Box 3037, Rutherfordton, NC 28139 or contact@TheDogPlace.org.