Life Sentence – No
Parole
“Imagine being locked in a room with no TV to watch,
no radio to listen to, and no computer to use. You have
no newspapers or books to read, and you don’t have a
telephone. You get no exercise because you are never
permitted to leave your small room, so all you can do
is pace the perimeter.
Once or twice a day, someone comes to your door and
leaves a tray of food and water for you (if you’re lucky),
and luckier still if that person spends five minutes
talking to you.
During your long years of imprisonment, you will rarely,
if ever, get the chance to bathe, and you must sleep
only inches from where you go to the bathroom, which
is never cleaned up, only trodden down from your constant
pacing. The only source of entertainment you have is
to look out of your window and watch the world go by.
Unfortunately, this is the sad and daily existence of
thousands of dogs in Saint John and surrounding areas
that are chained or penned 24 hours a day, 7 days a
week, 365 days a year, in backyards, for their entire
lives, all but forgotten by their owners.”
-- Christine Ameduri, Dogs Deserve Better
Across North America, communities are taking action
to limit the number of hours a dog can be tied up outside.
Municipalities in more than half of the 50 states in
the USA now have “chained dog” laws, and Vancouver has
recently passed by-laws regarding the chaining of dogs.
However, New Brunswick dogs do not enjoy this kind of
protection. While the provincial SPCA Act requires owners
to provide adequate food, water, shelter, and care,
nothing in the Act protects dogs from being kept outdoors
on a chain.
