In a sarcastic mean-spirited editorial published on February 15, 1998, Oregon's largest daily newspaper made fun of nationwide attempts to free Oregon dogs on death row, and urged that future problems be handled by changes to local ordinances rather than overhauling the offensive state livestock law.
However, it was only by a national outpouring of outrage that Jackson County Oregon backed down and made a change to its local ordinance. That change spared the life of Nadas, a 3 1/2 year old collie-malamute sentenced to die for allegedly chasing a horse. However it is unlikely that many other dogs in Jackson County will be spared as a result of the ordinance.
That ordinance still puts the burden of proof on the dog owner to show that his or her dog DID NOT chase livestock, whether or not the initial claim had merit. Fair hearings according to the rules of administrative law are not required. If an animal control officer (not a judge) decides that the dog has chased livestock, it is up to the owner to arrange and pay for exiling the dog to an approved sanctuary out of Oregon. In most poorer rural counties, people do not have the money to do this. The result will be that the dog will be killed anyway.
Following is a copy of the editorial, then information on how you can respond:
Editorial from The Oregonian
February 15, 1998
PUT A MUZZLE ON IT
All this woofing over Oregon's dog law is unnecessary;
counties can write ordinances to quickly resolve disputes
Natas lives, Jessie is outside running after sticks, and that cuddly Chase is in beagle heaven, a victim of epilepsy, not euthanasia. That's the latest word on Oregon's death-row dogs.
And, if we're lucky, the last word. Jackson County commissioners finally may have quelled an international barking chain set off by their decision to order the death of Natas, a dog caught chasing a horse in 1996.
The commissioners were flooded with mail and phone calls after "Hard Copy" and "The National Enquirer" did sob stories on the condemned dog. Death sentences for Chase and Jessie, two Deschutes County dogs that harassed a herd of sheep, prompted a similar outcry.
The uproar prompted the Legislature to consider altering the state law requiring that dogs caught chasing livestock be put to death. But farm groups growled, and Legislators pitched the issue back to the counties where it belongs.
One dog-livestock law can't fit all Oregon counties. In urbanizing counties such as Jackson and Deschutes, where new subdivisions bump up against farms, it makes sense to allow some leniency in cases where dogs chase livestock. In the farm country of Eastern Oregon, it's still goodbye dog. If Natas had run a horse in Harney County, the dog wouldn't have lived long enough to become an Internet cause celebre.
That's as it should be. Oregon counties should craft their own dog ordinances, as Jackson and Deschutes have done, and then act quickly and humanely to enforce them.
Notice that the Oregonian insists on misspelling Nadas' name as N-A-T-A-S. It is the only newspaper that does so. This is because some rather sick people want us to believe that Nadas is Satan spelled backwards. This was a tactic originally used by Jackson County to build support for its decision to kill Nadas.
Also note that this editorial does not examine the real issues of the dog-livestock stories - that of equal protection under the law, and fair hearings.
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