I think most animal lovers tend to be very passionate about their cause
and highly emotional. Acting on emotion isn't likely to accomplish
anything. That's why problems like Doug McKay get stirred up for awhile
and then fade away over and over again. Nobody knows what to do or
where to start.

Someone who understands the legal system works when it comes to animal
abuse is Susan Michaels. Depending on where you live and how old you
are, you may have heard of Pasado's Safe Haven in Washington State.
Pasado's is a very successful animal rescue which came into existence
because of the little miniature donkey that was tortured and killed
about 10 years ago. Susan is the co-founder and works tirelessly to
assure that abusers are prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
She is also largely responsible for getting the Pasado law passed
making animal cruelty a Class C felony. You can get a good idea of what
is involved by reading about it on their website. It was A LOT of work.
And it took A LOT of time. And that was a clear cut and dried case of
animal cruelty. She is also backed by hundreds maybe even thousands
of supporters every time she goes to change a law or gets involved in
another abuse case. She knows exactly what to do and when to do it and
she's well organized.

I had an opportunity to see first hand when I was one of her supporters
a few years ago during the trial of the 2 scumbags who shot a stray dog
over and over again with a bow and arrow. You can imagine his suffering
before he died. Activists packed the courtroom and spilled onto the
sidewalks in quiet protest. It was all very civil and very organized.
They were indeed given maximum sentences for their crime but within a
couple of weeks, released from jail because of overcrowding. The amount
of time and effort that went into this is overwhelming. It's a full
time job. And I'm the first to admit, I don't have the time to be a
rescue AND an activist. I'm betting most of you don't.

If someone in Ohio does and wants to assumer leadership, then maybe an
email to Susan for a bit of advice would be a place to start? If not,
then this is just another one of many who get away with animal abuse
by staying just inside the guidelines of the law. Until animals are
accepted by those in power, as valuable living breathing beings, laws
to protect them aren't going to happen any time soon.

[Posted in FML 5530]