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Posted on 06/19/2009 1:30:19 PM PDT by JoeProBono
A Massachusetts man facing animal cruelty charges for allegedly killing his bulldog with a hammer told police the dog was sick and he could not afford to pay a veterinarian to put it down. Charles Berube, of Methuen (meh-THOO'-ehn), appeared in court Thursday. A jury trial is scheduled for Aug. 20.
Berube owned the dog, named Spot, for 10 years. Animal welfare investigators say the 53-year-old told them the animal had been sick for weeks and had lost a lot of weight. It had swollen legs and had trouble walking. Berube says he did not want the animal to suffer and could not afford a veterinarian. He said he did not want to burden a shelter with the animal.
(Excerpt) Read more at google.com ...
The local animal shelter, any rescue group, or a kind hearted vet ( and yes there are lots of those) would have put this animal down in a less brutal manner
I wonder if he would do the same to himself if he were sick and couldn’t afford healthcare.
How sad. Any shelter would have put the dog down.
If hit very hard, death would be instantaneous. This is how animals are killed at a slaughter house, pneumatic hammers.
There is nothing at all inhumane here, just squeamish people making their personal condescension out to be a virtue. To the point where they feel good about prosecuting people without a lot of money for the invented crime of self sufficiency.
Vet bills are part of owning a dog. I hope he does not get another dog as dog ownership is clearly out of his economic league. My wife and I dropped $315 on our dog with the vet today.
Late term euthenasia.
I’m trying to find a vet who will give me the means of doing it myself when the time comes. I’d rather have him go in his sleep where he’s comfortable.
No, under Obamacare, a couple out of work yout's will suddenly show up at his doorstep, tell him he's no longer contributing to society, and hammer/sickle him off the welfare roles (though not the voting roles).
I read that the cows aren’t even killed by the hammer, the reason being they want the heart to pump the blood out of the animal.
If it was a sharp hard blow between the eyes it would have been quick and painless.
Several years ago I had to put down my little Pomeranian. I had promised my late wife when she died that I’d take care of him.
He became sick (he was 14 years old), couldn’t move well and had bloody diarrhea and vomit. I took him to our vet. The next day and a $1,000 later I was told nothing could be done. He had total system failure. I had him put down. It cost me $200 to have him killed and cremated. I couldn’t really afford it but I had made a promise.
Maybe I’m old school and country, but being a hunter and having butchered cows, pigs, etc., I’m missing out on why a vet had to do this. Used to be people did this for themselves. I can certainly think of a quicker and more direct way to do this (in fact several), but as sad as this is, it’s not criminal. If you knew how the beef on your plate gets there you would know that the cow gets killed in much the same way at an abattoir. If our laws were different, the guy could have done it by himself for the price of a syringe and some barbiturates - $10 max. Flame on.
A shelter would have euthanized the poor animal in a humane way....free!!
Yeah - this guy without a lot of money - who had this dog for 10 years, is so good hearted that he didn't want to BURDEN the shelter!! I hope they never let this brutal man own another dog for the rest of his life.
You read wrong.
The heart still functions for a few minutes after brain death. Short of being hit by powerful lightning, or flash incinerated in some other way the cells of any creature die gradually rather than all at once.
Correct. Not that all here will be able to handle reality.
A veterinarian is allowed to euthanize a dog but the owner is not? Or is this strictly a matter of method?
I’m not supporting using a hammer, nor do I look forward to the day when I’ll be in a similar boat, but there’s nothing wrong with a .44 to do the job. That has been a sad but necessary rite of manhood since dogs have been domesticated, and I certainly wouldn’t pay someone else to kill my own dog when that dog is unable to live without serious pain.
Oh wait, I live in the country... you city folks might not remember what life used to be like.
Being an animal vet will be much more profitable than being an MD when Baraqqicare passes. You may well see MDs switching over.
True. If one blow did it, then there is nothing wrong with what he did.
Personally, I wouldn't want to chance having to repeat the blow; the dog would suffer pain and terror. I take my old dogs to the vet.
Back when I was a kid most excess kittens around here were put in a sack and drowned.Older dogs were put to sleep by shotgun blast. Peta put’s to rest more animals than any other agency.
Old Shep may have been a mighty good dog, but the fact is Old Shep needs to be put to sleep instead of allowed to suffer. This man had the dog for 10 years and it probably hurt like hell for him to have to do the job, but he did it, and if his conscience is clear what business is it of anyone elses how he did it.
Yeah and if this guy used a pneumatic hammer and killed the dog the way cattle are killed ( and I have been to the slughter house and seen it) I would have no complaint. Be you and I both know that is not what happened. If he wanted to do it himself then he should have gotten a gun and shot the animal. Notice I didn’t NOT use the term inhumane for putting a dog down
A few years ago I had to take our GM mix to the vet to be put down after 13 years of companionship. I fed her beef jerky the whole time and she died a very happy dog.
RE: squeamish people making their personal condescension out to be a virtue.
Round here, large animal vets carry .357 revolvers and such to put down cows or horses that aren’t gonna get better. Guy saves a chunk-o-change if doesn’t bother to call the doctor.
Because people who are too squeamish to do it feel bad about you not paying several hundred bucks to the vet.
Hell it might get to the point where poor people can still have pets.
Even here on FR people are outraged that their pet ownership is not exclusive enough. And even if they hate taxes, they wish to see you forced by government to pay your money in some way.
They know his is true, and aren't going to take this up on debate in this thread though. they are going to slink off.
Seems that Vets (and various official equivalents) have now gotten some legal monopoly on killing animals. The death of Freedom, by a million cuts.
truth award reply
GM = GS
And when I had my Airedale put down I paid for the cost of the drugs and unfortunately in California you MUST pay either for burial or cremation. I did not ask the vet to do anything other than put the dog down
When I was a kid we always put down our own pets, usually with a shot to the head, quick and painless, and WE did it, not some frickin' person the dog of cat didn't know.
Requiring a vet to kill your pets, and they are killed not "put to sleep", is just BS and one more law that takes peoples rights away. A loved pet is just as dead if a vet does it and someone the pet didn't know killed it.
All of you self righteous jerks who think this person should be prosecuted for something are out of your frickin minds, and you wonder why we are over run with a nanny state!
50¢ or $200. Like you I’m country enough to do the job. Then to dig a hole under a nice tree, bury the poor critter and whiskey in his memory. Many here just don’t get it. They don’t want to nor do they have to given our civilization.
The best friend I ever had.
I rented a house on a farm awhile ago. The young daughter thought cats always had one baby. (The rest ended up in a burlap bag in the lake.) I thought that was cruel at the time - still do to a degree. But I figure its none of my business.
I did put our pet rat out of its misery - it had been twitching and running around its cage. A call to the doctor said that was common for older rats - I forget what it was now, a brain tumor I think. Not wanting to spend the $ on a vet to put a rat to sleep, I hooked up the car exhaust to a bag around the entire cage. It took about 5 seconds and was sad to see - but less so than his extended suffering.
Take a hammer to him since jail time would be too expensive. No, I’m not sympathetic to his case. Last yr I took my 16 yo dog to the emergency vet around midnight after she developed bloat and gastric torsion, and had her put down after much agonizing. Cost me nearly 700 clams before they were through with me. I didn’t like it, but you have a responsibility to care for the dog and make tough choices throughout its life. This end of life decision is the hardest in every sense. The guy here could have negotiated a payment plan with the Vet most likely. He chose unwisely to put it mildly.
Do you believe in putting the burden of all your unpleasant duties on someone else? If you’re not able to do it, fine, but don’t look down on those who can.
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