This morning, I read a post from a local wildlife group that disturbed me greatly.
Over the weekend, the person who runs this wildlife rescue left for a few hours and returned to find a note on the door of her home…which is also located on the property where the rescue is operated.
The note stated that someone had entered the private property, drove past several “No Trespassing” signs, parked his/her car, walked past several more “DO NOT ENTER” signs, strolled around the private property, and placed a small puppy in an empty cage.
The note stated that they had “found” the puppy (who was left with toys, water and food bowls, a collar and a leash and they had named him—which makes me think they were dumping their own personal dog) and that they had no choice but to drop the domestic animal off at a wildlife rescue.
The wildlife rescue operator was upset…for several reasons…and the rescue posted that they had the tag number and that they would be pursuing charges against the trespassers.
The internet went crazy about the post…however, the surprising part was that the outrage ran in the wrong damn direction.
Everyone accused the rescue of hating animals…where else could they take the dog…wasn’t the rescue glad the dog wasn’t dumped on the side of the road…or killed?
THEY TOTALLY MISSED THE POINT.
I decided to step in and explain a few things to those giving her a hard time on the post.
Why was this such a bad thing?
1. They trespassed on private property. They walked into that property and walked around the property without permission and while no one was there.
2. This is a wildlife rescue. The animals that they are rehabbing could have been released while still injured/sick by these people as they looked for a place to drop off the dog or they could’ve been harmed by the trespassers.
3. The animals in those cages were not only exposed to a dog that could have carried diseases/but so was the dog.
4. If the trespassers had been harmed by any of the animals being rehabbed, it would have been a death sentence for that animal and a lawsuit for the rescue.
5. Yes, it was better than dumping the dog on the side of the road. But one call to the rescue would have informed these people that, as a federally licensed rehabber, the rescue cannot take the dog and the person running the rescue would have given them the names of rehabbers who could have taken care of this animal.
Yes, the dog is safe. Yes, he is now with a foster.
But unfortunately, this situation brought into light the bigger issue we face daily.
A lot of people have an entitlement mentality and they think the world owes them something and that they are immune to laws and rules.
In this situation, there was a dog that they didn’t want to take the time or make the effort to properly hand over to a domestic animal rescue, so they drove to a local wildlife rescue and dumped the dog there. I will give them consideration if they did actually rescue the dog from a bad situation…but dumping the dog at a wildlife rescue without permission and trespassing while doing so negates the goodwill intent of the rescue.
This same mentality allows parents and others to defend situations where kids (or adults) trespass on private land and fish/ride four wheelers/camp/play on the land and the land owner tries to press trespassing and destruction of property charges against the kids. Those same parents forget that they could easily file suit against the land owner if their children are hurt on that property, a suit which would may be won by the landowner, but would still cost them attorney fees and waste quite a bit of their time to do so.
This same mentality allows people to break laws, drive under the influence, I could go on and on…
Our system of laws are in place for a reason, my friends…breaking the law…even if the person doing so thinks they can justify it…is still a violation of that law.
There is no place for kids to play…so why can’t they go fish in a private lake or have a bonfire on someone else’s property or ride their four wheelers on someone else’s property? I mean, it’s just a few fish…or one burn pile from the bonfire…or just kids being kids.
What is the big deal?
Here’s the big deal:
Trespassing is still trespassing.
Theft is still theft.
We either follow the laws…or we don’t.
We either give a damn…or we don’t.
I, for one, vote for giving a damn and respecting others’ property while doing so.
But what do I know?
I’m just an old country blue jean lawyer.
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