People Empowered to Protect a Dog With No Voice Failed in Every Way

By Deborah Pangle

The fight to help save a canine chained for 10 yrs in Ossining ended in a denial and rejection in Westchester County Courtroom on Jan. 23 to have her rescued from her proprietor and put in a loving property.

Even though I productively rescued and saved hundreds of cats and puppies, my workforce of four fierce animal advocates could not preserve a puppy named Luna just after a 6-and-a-50 {530e870c018efe4faeaf1650f5521f73bbd950ecc9f753be09e2bfdaa8245e82}-year struggle.

You should really experience stunned, offended or in disbelief. Without a doubt, this took place in the developed, affluent county of Westchester.

What unfolded in our journey to rescue Luna, a Siberian Husky, was an abject failure of folks in electricity who we entrust to secure all people in our community, which include our animals.

We have been thwarted by the Ossining police and the SPCA of Westchester at each and every juncture. It was stunning and terrifying to working experience this menace to justice in my personal group of 25 years.

I was explained to in writing by Ossining Police Chief Kevin Sylvester in a June 6, 2020, e-mail, in what I took as a threatening message, that my monitoring of Luna’s issue from outdoors the owner’s household “could violate a selection of felony statutes.”

When I think my civil legal rights ended up violated by Ossining law enforcement, I attained out to the Westchester County District Attorney’s office. I submitted a official grievance to the Ossining Police Commission as very well. The more we protested and challenged the inaction by village police and the SPCA of Westchester, the significantly less they did to aid Luna.

Our look at meetings and protests appeared on News 12, LoHud.com and The Examiner. Our documentation of 6 many years of films and pics were evidence of really serious violations of New York State and neighborhood Ossining tether laws. The only protection was for the dog’s proprietor, a municipal personnel in Ossining. Hook up the dots, and The Cat Squad concludes there was hardly ever any trustworthy endeavor at protection or acknowledgement of Luna’s struggling.

Luna was chained each day and evening outdoors. Chained by yourself in a 2018 nor’easter, in the rain and wind. Chained in excessive chilly at 17 degrees. Chained in 96-degree heat for the duration of a heat advisory, lying on warm cement, which was documented in pics and movies. Fearful neighbors referred to as police and the SPCA, only to be rebuffed.

We elevated extra than $20,000 to convey our case to court docket. We marched in the streets. We referred to as out for aid. Our voice for Luna was loud, decided and unwavering. Luna’s voice was heard but the heart and soul of our justice program did not hear. Luna lost her ideal to be free, beloved and secured.

Luna’s story is a microcosm of dogs chained and struggling with no protection. Justice and fact dropped. Animal legal rights and independence lost. Our humanity and regard for God’s creatures who lead to our lives lost. The winner was man’s rights versus animal rights. The environment of animal rights finds all of you responsible of animal cruelty.

The tale represents a deeper, extra severe violation of the soul of our culture and its leaders. Your silence will not safeguard you. You will reply someday for the struggling of all those who have no voice.

Deborah Pangle was a longtime Briarcliff Manor resident and founder of The Cat Squad, an animal rights team.