Bill filed by teen proposes criminalizing debarking surgery
source: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1149346
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- numinant
- added this
Putting a bite into debarking
By Laurel J. Sweet
Monday, February 2, 2009
Needham High freshman Jordan Star doesn’t claim he can talk to the animals, but as the surprise driving force behind a bill to outlaw the surgical silencing of dogs and cats, the teen is doing a fine job speaking on their behalf.
“To take a voice away from an animal is morally wrong,” Star, 15, said of convenience devocalization, the removal of a pet’s vocal cords so Fido and Fluffy are seen, not heard.
Star tackled the topic after encountering a dog who’d been debarked, then abandoned.
“It was just horrible,” he said of the dog’s struggle to get his attention. “It was just like a hoarse, wheezy cough. In a shelter, all they are is a mutilated animal, which makes them harder to adopt.”
continue: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1149346
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- Politics, Culture, Animal Videos and News, Animal Rights, 2 more
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BonnieC
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Sad to see so much misinformation here. The debarking bill is not what it seems, not a straightforward, be-kind-to-animals law, but part of a coordinated national campaign by out-of-state animal rights organizations, which do not believe people should own pets at all. This bill relies on emotion and lack of knowledge to influence people, because the surgery is so rare that most people and even most vets don’t know about it.
Facts: Debarking saves lives. A more accurate name is bark softening. It is a last resort that should be available for dog owners when training methods fail. Many dogs cannot be trained to stop barking, not so much when they are bored or lonely but much more when they are having fun. This proposal would kill many pets, which would have to be euthanized or taken to shelters because of neighbor complaints and Animal Control citations. Devocalization is never done on cats at all. As for dogs, no one makes the decision lightly, but it is not cruel. It’s very minor surgery, done under anesthesia by a vet, through the mouth, only takes a minute, and does not remove the vocal chords, merely making a nick in them. The dogs are not silent, just much quieter. They go back to playing and barking the same day and do not seem to realize they are debarked. They bark just as much, but now they are happier because they are not constantly punished for it. It’s not just done for convenience. And, anyway, if we’re criticizing convenience, why allow neutering, major invasive surgery with serious potential side effects, when all that owners need to do is keep their dogs home while they are in season?
This bill makes it abundantly clear how important it is to understand subjects before voting on them.
- 3 years ago
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BonnieC
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numinant
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BonnieC:
those are actually decent points, except that i too believe that pet ownership, at least as an industry, should be phased out. and that's not to say i'm totally convinced, but legitimate points nonetheless.
- 3 years ago
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numinant
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numinant
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admirable kid. but i'm just going to assume it's one of those parents-helping-the-kids-with-the-homework scenarios so that i may feel less pathetically ineffectual.
- 3 years ago
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numinant
