Wow. I wrote on Monday about two separate incidents in Chicago where a pet dog went into Lake Michigan, followed by its owner, followed by emergency workers and a successful rescue:
These stories won’t be cute little human interest pieces any longer once they result in serious injury or death of any of the involved parties, or what to me would be even worse, injury or death to a police officer, firefighter or emergency medical personnel who was involved in rescuing someone from an incident probably of their own making.
When I wrote that, I hadn’t yet seen a story from the UK in which the parents of a seven-month-old baby girl drowned while attempting to save their two dogs from an undertow in the River Garnock. Very sad and very possibly preventable, as were the incidents in Chicago.
I think we dog owners, especially city dog owners, get caught up in wanting our dogs to be able to run free now and then, and lose sight of what could happen, not only to them but to us.
(NaBloPoMo | May ‘09: 13 of 31 | 75% Challenge: 109 of 274)
Jo (Laquet) says
I know we’re animal lovers BUT that was pure stupidity, to think that they could save them. And that poor baby!
~mingle, mngle, mingle~
kathi says
Even sadder, the woman who died had 3 other children from a previous marriage. I am pretty sure I’d jump in the water to save my dog if the worst happened, but I am also pretty sure that if I were walking near possibly dangerous waters, I’d try to stack the odds in my favor and have the dog on leash.