Did Daniel really care for this cat?

Most people who know me know that I love animals -- particularly dogs and cats. But there comes a time when mercy for the suffering of the animal must be considered alongside human practicality. It's called common sense, and it's in increasingly short supply.

Daniel Dockery had a 9-month-old cat named Scruffy. Daniel is a "recovering" heroin addict. In December, Scruffy suffered a severe wound caused by a barbed wire fence -- it was deep and ran from her abdomen to her knee. Daniel took her to the Arizona Humane Society. The Society determined treatment would be $400, but Daniel didn't have $400. He asked them to take his mother's credit card over the phone, but they were not set up to do that. Then he asked them to wait while his mother wired him the money.

The Society told him if he would sign the cat over to them, they would treat the cat and put it in foster care. That would have been the logical thing to do since it's obvious that Dockery doesn't have the means to properly care for an animal. But Dockery refused. The end of the story for Scruffy is that she was euthanized.

Now all the animal rights people are blaming the Humane Society. The Humane Society is just that -- humane. They use their money to place animals that would otherwise be left to wander the streets and suffer. They use their money to treat animals who have no owner to provide the funds needed to treat them. If they had treated Scruffy for Daniel for free, they would be inundated with pet owners bringing in their animals for free treatment. Then the money they've collected for the strays and abandoned animals would be dried up, and they would be forced to euthanize many more adoptable pets.

If Daniel had any common sense or any compassion, he would have given Scruffy a chance. Instead, he selfishly clung to his "rights." I suspect that if we checked, all of us taxpayers are providing Daniel's food and shelter and medical care. I guess he thought he was entitled to free veterinary care as well.

"Euthanized cat sparks an outcry." The Dallas Morning News; December 29, 2011; p. 3A.