A dog of a story

I will admit to watching American Idol last night. Not because it was my choice, mind you. No, seriously. Why would I lie?

It was a pretty by-the-book reality talent contest episode, with all the prerequisite movie tie-ins from the parent company and the once-great talent that has not aged well (Barry Gibb sans high-pitched falsetto is sort of like Neapolitan ice cream without the chocolate - what's the point?). Apart from the wound to state pride I felt when young miss Lakisha was set home, nothing about the show grabbed my interest.

The commercials, though? That's an entirely different matter. Imagine my surprise when pictures of emaciated, sad-looking Labradors started appearing on the screen in the middle of the bright, happy battle of the songsters, with somber narration informing us that the poor pups we were looking at were the result of neglect at a kennel that had its license revoked and then re-awarded within two months. My reaction, I would assume, matched that of others in the audience - at first, it was sadness at the images, then a yeahbuhwah? at the commercial's revelation of licensing impropriety. You can watch the ad here. The important thing is that it led me to ThorsWarriors.com, a website run by established author and former radio personality Chris Wright née Jonathan Rand née Christopher Knight.

The website crafts an interesting and wholly disconcerting tale of animal abuse and neglect which is difficult to sum up in a brief paragraph. It begins when a Labrador is found in a car port in Crawford County in an emaciated and neglected state by what appears to be a concerned neighbor. Wright decides to write an article on the dog for a magazine he contributes to, only to discover that the watchful citizen is the mother of the man who ran the kennel the dog came from, and presumably was trying to cover up the activities at her son's business. It gets worse from there, but you should probably start at the beginning and read it for yourself.

The reporting is occasionally over-sentimentalized and angry, but then again this is the sort of issue that would inspire such feelings, and the website is not intended to be an impartial journal of record. We're going to be getting Mr. Wright on the morning show next time some week to talk about the issue alongside some representatives from local animal welfare organizations, but I felt this was an important enough issue to bring it up right here on the blog. Things of this nature happen all the time whether we'd like to admit it or not, and the sad truth is that it's not limited by geography. Even here in Mount Pleasant, there could be animals being starved, beaten, or otherwise neglected as I write this. It's not a comforting thought, but it's a reality. But more than that, if these accusations Mr. Wright makes are truthful - and, given the wealth of supporting documents and evidence he provides, it's difficult to say otherwise - then the discussion goes beyond helping animals and questioning the actions of elected public officials.

So we'll be keeping tabs on the development of this story and hopefully talking with Mr. Wright soon. Until then, feel free to let me know what you think of the story by responding to this post. Also, if you want to help some local animals, the Isabella County Humane Animal Treatment Society is a great place to donate time and money.