Hundreds of concerned Canadians gathered last Sunday to mourn the loss of 100 innocent lives - it was too little too late to reverse the decision of one man who now claims to be suffering the effects of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
There's always an excuse, but should it be so readily accepted by society?
Business was great when the 2010 Winter Olympics were underway but when all the hoopla ended, so too did much of the potential for profits, at least for some BC businesses. When the big winter event came to a close, Outdoor Adventures and Howling Dogs, which sells dog-sled rides to tourists, found it no longer required the services of 100 faithful huskies.
What to do?
Enter into the picture Robert Fawcett who on behalf of Outdoor Adventures and Howling Dogs took it upon himself to remedy the problem. Did he look for ways to adopt the animals out? Nope. Did he have them humanely put down? Another negative. Armed with a shotgun and a knife he took care of the "problem animals" himself. "They're just dogs," I've heard some people say in the wake of it all, "give them a needle or shoot them, what's the difference?" Well I for one have a problem with that mentality and with the way Fawcett went about the whole thing.
Some dogs had their throats slit, some were shot, some had their faces half blown off before they were all tossed into a mass grave where a number tried to crawl out bleeding and in pain. Fawcett admits to having to "finish the job" on many of the bodies as tied up dogs looked on awaiting their fate.
"It wasn't always a clean, one-shot kill. He ended up seeing and having to put the end to some horrific scenes," says his own lawyer.
And now he claims he's traumatized by it all. In fact, Fawcett is reportedly getting compensation as a result. SERIOUSLY?
B.C.'s Premier Gordon Campbell has ordered the creation of a task force to investigate the killings but if you ask me this is a cut and dry case with no task force needed. What kind of a society allows something like this to go overlooked? Not only should Fawcett NOT be compensated, he should be punished. If we let this slide we're setting a pretty unattractive precedent that I for one, don't want to see repeated.
