By Shane & Sia Barbi with Robin Torme
Beverly Hills is known for it’s rich and famous. Yet, even its tree-lined borders can’t escape the images of homeless people sleeping on the streets, and often with their pet companions. L.A. has a substantial homeless population who along with their voiceless pets, suffer the consequences of inadequate housing. Many homeless suffer from loneliness and adopt pets to fill void emotional needs and for protection. Pets are often the only family they have.
Every year, heart-wrenching scenarios occur where a homeless man or woman dies in severe weather while searching for shelter to ‘save’ their companion versus abandoning them to a cold death. But there are none. In recent California fires, a homeless man and his dog burned to death. During the torrential rains, a home- less woman and her cat froze to death, curled together in a shoddy blanket. During Hurricane Katrina, a man who became homeless had a heart attack when forced to abandon his dog. Anyone can end up homeless.
Sadly, homeless are often mentally impaired, left without healthy boundaries to survive, vulnerable to darker reasons for owning pets where they starve, neglect or create wounds on them to evoke food, sympathy and money. ”Sometimes officials just don’t seem to care”, says Sia. ”As a community, we are failing the homeless while these animals endure a slow torturous death. When I reported such abuse, it led to a dead end. Haunted by the dog’s bloodshot eyes pleading for help, officials showed up to take a report then let the man go with the dog despite obvious signs of abuse. They didn’t check for licensing explaining that homeless have no address so they let these cases “slide.” The man escaped with the dog who then died, enduring two years of beatings, being dragged when it couldn’t walk from a severe paw infection. The man then got another shelter dog still without an address…and animal crimes can’t be reported without one. To not arrest for animal abuse has ramifications on society as evidenced by research showing most violent offenders start by torturing and killing animals.
Karley’s Story
An L.A. County assistant fire chief, 54 year old Glynn Johnson, was recently charged with animal cruelty in the beating death of Karley, his neighbor’s puppy. Travis Staggs, a neighbor, was returning the escaped puppy to the owners, when Johnson insisted on taking over. Johnson claims the puppy attacked him but eyewitnesses say the puppy did not attack, but rather Johnson tried to break the pup’s jaws, then bashed its head fatally with a rock. Neighbors suspect him of other animal deaths in the area. Staggs said he tried to intervene but couldn’t. Johnson has pleaded not guilty to animal cruelty, with sentence-enhancing allegations of using a deadly weapon during the commission of a felony. Many are just as outraged as Johnson has now been “retired” which includes pay from the fire department and remains free on $10,000 bail. Johnson has since filed a lawsuit against the owners of the pup, the Toole family, who have two children, claiming the puppy has left him permanently disabled. As parents, the Tooles are concerned over the effects that this has had on their traumatized kids, claiming they don’t sleep well and cry about their disappointment in the system.
According to the lawsuit, which seeks unspecified damages, Johnson alleges that he suffered physical and emotional trauma as a result of the “pup’s brutal attack.” He’s scheduled to return to Riverside County Superior Court for a felony settle- ment conference on February 20th.
Perhaps it’s time that we examine priorities and hold highly-salaried officials accountable to much higher standards. Do we allow politicians to spend on lavish issues that pale in comparison to the living and the breathing? A solution would not require additional funding, but simply enforcement, re-allocating, cutting the wasteful budgets, and supporting a new law defining animals as living beings and not ‘property.’ The Toole Family is working to get such a bill passed. In an era where violent offenders have more rights than animals, isn’t it time those who feel the same pain we do are treated with nominal respect? It’s beyond our own race and religion, but basic moral standards as a community.
If this story is as disturbing to you as it is to us, there is something that you can do. SuperStar music man Willie Nelson has recently signed the ongoing petition against Johnson. You can as well. Looking at Karley, in plain sight is an angel with wings in the shape of a cross holding a ball of light. It’s located right in the middle of her sweet little chest. It’s incredibly unusual and some believe it’s a mark, perhaps confirming her mission here, chosen to give her life for a purpose, wearing a symbol of an angel spirit representing change for animals everywhere. This symbol is recognized in some religions as “the perfection of power in which an angel spirit shines in everlasting life”.
DOWNTOWN DOG RESCUE is a great organization working in the poorest neighborhoods to help the homeless, their pets and stray dogs. They need your help setting up programs that can ensure a safe and healthy life for L.A.’s homeless and their pets.
