Regarding Toby, the Shih Tzu: It’s a good thing that [1] I refuse to own a gun, and [2] Purser isn’t my neighbor. Otherwise I, a person who never advocated violence, would likely shoot this jerk.

Has it really come to this?

i had a father who was of this ilk. if ’something’ did anything that annoyed him violence was always the answer to re-establish control. he once gassed my mother’s pet cat by stuffing it in a box and taping it to the exhaust of a car. he thought it had scratched me (i was an infant at the time and as anyone with a baby knows they do grow fingernails and do sometimes scratch themselves which is what happened). this incident was never presented to me as abnormal behavior-which i find horrifying- it was 1960s ok behavior for an adult male.

he went on to do such things as smash a chair over my back when i was 5 because i didnt get to the dinner table fast enough for him and eventually took to severely beating my mother.

he was never once presented to me as the out of control,cruel monster he was. it’s a wonder i have any human emotions at all left from having to suck all his vicious crap in and never receiving any support or confirmation that it was sick and completely unacceptable. it’s a wonder i didn’t become him.

i think it misses the point to focus on the alleged ‘ innocence’ of the victims when dealing with sociopathic sadists. it doesn’t matter whatsoever. if he had tried to kill a crack whore with a record of vice and petty violence a mile long in a similar manner he’d just be as much of a dirt bag. we need to focus on the fact that this sort of behavior is so prevelant in our society because such violence has been historically viewed as an expression of male normalcy. we need to focus on the sickness of the crime not the alleged virtue or lack there of of the victims. we need to focus on why our society is suffused with the idea that sadism and causing other creatures pain is sexy and ultimately sells product. if cruelty wasn’t so eroticized and prized our culture would be able to view the puppy torturers and serial killers and wife beaters for what they are-twisted sick should probably be shot scum bags- not heros of glitzy tv programs about ‘ good ‘ hero serial killers and idolized ho slapping dog shooting gansta thug millionaire music and sports stars. we reward the wealthy , celebrity/media version of the gutless cruel violent puke while spouting off about the evilness of the poorer, average joe punk who is only different in that he isn’t supplied with a PR firm , a tv show and a herd of lawyers to sanitize his wickedness into what has become the coin of the realm.

i want to know why it’s vicious and monster -like to drown a puppy but incredibly sexy and marketable when you do the same thing on screen to a woman or it’s her ‘ own fault’ somehow if her boyfriend does the same to her. where are our values when we make the distinction that a dog doesn’t deserve it but a human does ? who the hell is anyone to say which creatures are more ‘innocent’ then others and that those who arent innocent enough partly deserve some of what they get?

we churn human killing thugs or girlfriend beating pigs out on the street for even less bail money. the truth be told we value the lives of people who maim and kill more then we do the lives of their victims or we wouldnt throw around such phrases as ‘ innocent victims’ to distinguish them from the ones we think probably kind of deserved it or encouraged it or weren’t somehow pure enough to avoid predators.

Animal abuse is a felony in CA. I don’t know the details of Purser’s unrelated drug case - whether it’s a felony or a misdemeanor. And I don’t know if he has any prior felonies on his records. But if his criminal record turns up two other felonies [though in light of his age it probably won’t], this guy is going to be put away for a long time.

One of the best things CA ever did was pass the “three strikes and you’re out” law back in 1994. Say what you will about prisons being overcrowded, this is a smart law. Three convicted felonies and you automatically go to prision for 25 years to life.

There are three angels in Toby’s case: the two girls that saved him and got him to the vet’s and the vet, Dr. Caroline McCray.

You’ve got to read this link [an old story, but good example of CA law and how it works]:

http://www.inhumane.org/data/JAbernathy.html

The CA judge in this CA case refused to buy off on the insanity or the mental health diagnosis, stating firmly that Abernathy was sane at the trial and acted in anger [killing his dog]. Because he already had two felony convictions, with the animal abuse being the third, instead of 3 years max, the judge was bound by law to rule with “3 strikes and you’re out” -this meant that the defendant must get a minimum of 25 years to life. And that’s what he got. But you really have to give this judge credit for tossing out the cries for insanity.

May all animal abusers either rot in jail or have their inmate fellows “take care of them.”

Probably more common is the situation where a family gets a dog, then when they realize the responsibility involved, dump it in short order. You only have to look at shelter intake statistics to see the reasons people give. Basically, they seem to be clueless that this is a living being, not a toaster.

Ashley is another example of a true hero…thank God she was there!