Yesterday morning I found a St. Bernard roaming the town. I've seen him before, in fact I saw him just the day before, but this time was different -- he was clearly injured. I don't know who be belongs to (he has tags) so I had to call Animal Control to come pick him up. I never found out if they did...I hope so, because he's hurt and needs medical attention. But this morning in the newspaper, the front page story is about a dog who was picked up by the Smithfield police and then left in an outdoor kennel, and subsequently died from the exposure and dehydration.

I am worried about the St. Bernard. But here's the real reason I'm writing this...the owner of the dog claimed that Lola, a yellow lab, was a member of her family. I have a hard time with this because of the circumstances surrounding what has happened.

Here's the story:

On Thursday, Lola was "let our for an early morning walk." She was found and picked up by a local police officer and taken to the city's temporary animal holding facility. She was placed in an exposed outdoor kennel and left there until she was found dead on Monday. According to the police, the officer in question put her in the kennel pending transportation to the humane society shelter, which is standard procedure. He then got "sidetracked" and forgot about her until the following Monday.

Here's the problem:

The dog owner claims that she called the Humane Society, several vets, and placed ads in the Herald Journal, on CacheValleyDaily.com, and KSL.com. She didn't bother to call the police. The dog had no tags or tracers and the police couldn't readily identify to whom she belonged.

If your dog is a member of your family don't you think you would ensure that animal's safety by, at the very least, having it tagged so that, in the event of it's being picked up by the police, it can be identified and returned to you as quickly as possible? Don't you also think you would call the police as soon as the animal is determined to be missing? Of all the people who are likely to pick up a stray dog, the police are your best bet.

I am not excusing the conduct of the officer in question -- what he did was wrong and deplorable; however, as a dog owner, you have certain responsibilities and one of them is to license your pet and have that license on the animal at all times! As a dog owner you should also be aware that it is illegal to allow your pet to run at large within the city, which is what this owner was allowing at the time of Lola's disappearance. This tragedy could have been avoided had Lola's owner been more responsible. Not allowing the dog to roam free and having her collared and tagged would have been the only things necessary to have prevented her death.

So, while the officer is directly responsible for the dog's death, the owner of the dog is indirectly, and therefore, also, responsible for her death. If you truly love your dog and consider it a member of your family then take the necessary precautions to prevent this type of thing from happening; have your dog collared and tagged, micro-chipped, and never allow it to roam outside of your yard unsupervised.