There seems to be several sides to this sad story but the killing of two dogs when it looks like dog control actually knew who these dogs lived with is terrible.
Thanks to the Canadian Press for this article.
Woman alleges Saskatchewan town killed her dogs because she was on welfare
REGINA When she was separated from her husband, lost custody of her two sons and was forced to go on welfare, Jacqueline Nash found comfort in her dogs.
The purebred German shepherds got her through the rough times, the Saskatchewan woman said. They were her companions and her protectors.
As Nash’s mother was dying of cancer, one of the dogs, Archangel – Angel for short – was there. It would put its head on the side of the bed and Nash’s mother would run her hands through the animal’s fur. On the way home from the hospital, Nash would look to the dog for support, she said.
“I don’t know how many times I soaked her coat with my tears.”
When Angel and two of her puppies disappeared one day in June 2005, the Saskatchewan woman was frantic. She spent five days searching for the animals in the town of Wolseley, east of Regina, asking anyone if they had seen them on the loose. She said she was shocked and devastated when she learned the town had found her dogs and destroyed them when they went unclaimed.
The case has ended up in front of the Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission. Nash claims that town officials put the dogs down because they knew she was on welfare and assumed she didn’t have the money to pay pound fees.
The town acknowledges the “sadness and hurt” the situation has caused, but says officials were just following bylaws. It says Wolseley, like many other rural areas, had a problem with stray and abandoned pets and Nash’s financial situation had nothing to do with the decision.
The human rights tribunal began hearing witnesses Thursday. Nash was the first to take the stand and she explained what the dogs meant to her.
“They were my best friends.”
Angel was a registered purebred of good breeding stock and paired nicely with Sisco, another of Nash’s dogs. Nash said she never considered herself a large breeder of dogs, but she allowed Angel a litter from time to time because she liked the puppies and they supplemented her social assistance income.
Townspeople, it seems, were not so fond of the dogs.
