Has it really come to this???

[old fashioned]

Unless I'm reading this wrong.......

http://money.msn.com/business-news/article.aspx?feed=AP&date=20110201&id=12853934

this is wrong on so many levels

 

[Rebbetzin]

How very sad indeed!

 

[old fashioned]

It's not just what the man did, but claimed PTSD for compensation? AND the Canadian gvt APPROVED IT!!!

So where does his or Outdoor Adventures responsibility come in to play? As in planning ahead of time for after the Olympics? Both he & OA should have known business would drop considerably & should have made proper adjustments before ever starting.

Maybe I'm not reading or understanding it correctly, but it seems to me as everyone involved in this story is either not being held accountable for their part or just plain crazy. As in the man himself, Outdoor Adventures & the Canadian gvt-just to name a few.

 

[Shiloh Acres]

I might be misunderstanding, but the man was told to deal with costs, made the decision to put down the dogs and how, and then sued because he was stressed by it??? That's crazy in itself. He needs to be jailed, not awarded a settlement. If I'm reading this right.

And the governmental response: to shut down the industry? Mind I have no knowledge of sled dog tours, but in general working animals should be well-treated in order to work well, and it seems to me that most people who are involved in training/working dogs would know this? My guess offhand would be that the industry isn't the one to blame. In fact, they may risk the welfare of remaining sled dogs by NOT allowing them to work. Some folks can't afford to well maintain even much-loved animals when you cut out their income.

 

[patandchickens]

It's awful, but hardly unprecedented. What happened to the cavalry horses after the Civil War, or military dogs after US withdrawal from Viet Nam? And that was the gummint *doin' it*, not just processing a workmans compensation claim.

I was reading a newspaper story on this during lunch today, Outdoor Adventures mgmt claims they did authorize reducing stock of dogs but expected/assumed it would be by humane euthanasia. Probably never know what the real decisionmaking process was (and whose) unless some ninny left a paper trail, but knowing some people in the mushing biz I get the impression that (with some exceptions) the dogs are more like a remuda of nameless ranch horses or a herd of dairy cattle than like pet dogs, and the only thing that would be remarkable about doing that to economically-burdensome workhorses or dairy cattle would be the level of incompetence that resulted in not having clean kills.

I don't know, I too find it very upsetting, but, the world is kind of like that.

Pat