Benefit

For the Coalition to Unchain Dogs, tonight at the Pinhook.

Regina Hexaphone makes a rare appearance. And guess what? It starts at the civilized hour of 7 pm.

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Unchain Dogs benefit concert still on for tonight

Just a quick word if you were thinking about going to this event. An email from Amanda confirms that the benefit concert, to begin at 4:30 at Durham Central Park, is still on for tonight. The weather should be fine, but the ground will probably be a bit damp. Bring a lawn chair or two.

Continue reading Unchain Dogs benefit concert still on for tonight

Unchaining dogs

Kudos to Amanda Arrington and the Coalition to Unchain Dogs for turning out so many articulate and well informed speakers at last night's public hearing. I'll have a post up later in the day reviewing some of the many interesting and moving statements made, but i wanted to take a couple of minutes to talk about something that happened as i was leaving.

The News 14 Carolina team was putting their story together (note - i'm not able to find it on their website. Maybe they decided it wasn't sexy enough to run?) and interviewing one of the handful of "Responsible tethering" supporters in attendance. I had a chance to chat with one of the News 14 crew about how they were going to frame the story. Given that they had less than 60 seconds, it was clear they were not going to be able to present an accurate sense of the meeting: that supporters of the ban on chaining dogs outnumbered opponents by 12 or 15 to one, that they countered every "argument" made by opponents of the ban, and pretty conclusively demonstrated that the community supports this move. Instead, they were going to have a couple of 15 second clips, one of a supporter and one of an opponent, and present a "fair and balanced" presentation of the issue.

That, of course, is bullshit. The time for a "fair and balanced" presentation of the issue is before the hearing. The story last night was the public hearing. And viewers of News 14 in Durham, assuming the story even aired, will not be getting a "fair and balanced" picture of the public hearing.

Over in the N&O, Samiha Khanna does a better job of presenting how the hearing went, but still falls victim to mainstream journalism's insistence on presenting "both sides," quoting only one supporter of the ban, and giving two paragraphs of her article to one of the few opponents, Natalie Rowntree, who was representing an organization that has been linked to illegal dog fighting, and who doesn't even live in Durham. She also writes: "She and other supporters of what they called "responsible tethering" were heckled, booed and hissed by the opposing members of the crowd."

Unless things changed drastically after i left, that simply didn't happen. The only speaker who drew a negative reaction from the crowd was a man named Kevin, who made the claim that tethers are more sanitary than pens, because the tether will sweep the area clear of feces, while in a pen, they'll just be allowed to pile up, the dog will dig holes to cover them, the holes will fill with water when it rains, and it will be a mess. He got a few howls of derision from the crowd. Justifiably so, in my opinion. I don't imagine that it ever occurred to him that picking up the dog shit might even be an option.

Matt Milliken's article in the HS also devotes an inordinate amount of time to the subject of "heckling." Hey, maybe things looked different from the media bench as opposed to being in the crowd, or maybe our local reporters have forgotten what things were like at school board meetings in Durham not all that long ago. Considering that the room was packed to overflowing, there were no issues of civility or decorum to discuss.

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Helping the dogs

Just a reminder - Durham County Commissioners are holding a public hearing tonight on a proposed change in county ordinances which would ban the tethering of dogs completely. Current ordinance provides some limitations to tethering, mostly regarding minimum length of the tether, maximum weight, type of collar, etc. Studies have shown that tethered dogs are more likely to bite, and tethered dogs generally have a lower rate of spay/neutering, which contributes to the animal overpopulation problem.

The Commissioners meet at 7pm at the old County Courthouse, 200 East Main St.

Lisa Sorg has an informative article in the Indy on the issue.

Also, the Coalition to Unchain Dogs, which has been the lead organization in getting this before the Commissioners, is having a benefit concert at
Durham Central park on September 6. Details here.

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Good news

For dogs:

For more than two years, animal advocates and the county have discussed implementing such a law, based on the principle that chaining or otherwise tethering animals outside is cruel and inhumane, and that the practice contributes to constant barking and even causes dogs to become overly aggressive and attack people who cross into their territory.

The board of commissioners had asked the county's Animal Control Advisory Committee to look at the issue and draft a proposed ordinance.

At a work session Monday, commissioners saw this draft (PDF attachment) and scheduled a public hearing for the end of the month, to be held at the commissioners’ chambers at 200 E. Main St.

Kudos to the Coalition to Unchain Dogs for sticking this out for two years as the ordinance has worked its way through the process to even make it this far. A public hearing will be held August 25 at the Commissioners' chambers in the old court house. You can be sure the oxymoronic "Responsible Pet Owners" groups will be there in force to remind people that animals have no rights.

The coalition has put together a stellar lineup for their annual fundraising concert in Durham Central Park on September 6. You should go.

I'll say this, if the county enacts, implements, and enforces a ban on tethering dogs successfully, i might be willing to willing to give the city a crack at allowing chickens in town.

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Benefit concert tomorrow - Coaliton to Unchain Dogs

Sometimes after i get carried away with talking about how great a place Durham is to live, someone will ask, pointing to Durham's obvious flaws, what the hell i'm talking about.

The Coalition to Unchain Dogs is an example.

The problem: dogs that are chained all day tend to be more unsocialized, more likely to bite people, especially children, harder to control when they get loose, noisier (which diminishes their usefulness as watch dogs, since they're barking almost all the time and their owners are ignoring them anyway), and in general unhappy with their lot in life.

The solution: ban the practice of keeping dogs chained continuously.

That's why the Coalition was formed, to lobby County Commissioners in Durham and Orange to ban this practice. I'm not sure what's happening in Orange, but in Durham, commissioners have essentially responded to this effort by launching an extended study of the problem.*

So here's what makes the Coalition special. Rather than shrug shoulders and mumble about the difficulties of fighting City Hall, they adopted another tactic, and decided to directly get dogs, one by one, off of their chains and into fenced yards. By raising money, attracting volunteers, and approaching dog owners. They've built a couple of dozen fences over the past year, on an essentially shoe-string budget. It's an approach that is typically Durham.

Tomorrow they're holding their first major fundraiser, a benefit concert at Durham Central Park.

You should buy a ticket and go.

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* To be fair to the Commission, there are a lot of obstacles to implementing a change in the laws this drastic, most significantly in figuring out how to enforce it. According to people who should know, at least one third, and possibly more, of Durham's dogs are unlicensed with the county. Many of these dogs are unvaccinated against rabies. Solving that problem needs to come first, given our limited funding for Animal Control. Loose dogs killing other pets ahs recently resurfaced as a problem, most notably in the Watts-Hillandale neighborhood, where the listserv has had about half a dozen accounts of cats being killed by packs of stray dogs within the past 10 days or so. Rounding up strays, and convincing dog owners that letting their dogs roam free is another priority that the AC department has to implement before taking on new tasks.

But in the long term, banning the practice of long term chaining of dogs is going to be the norm, and there's no reason for Durham not to be, if not at the vanguard, at least not trailing the pack.

Continue reading Benefit concert tomorrow - Coaliton to Unchain Dogs