Hunter, the black Lab, certainly received a lot of press from The Columbian with stories on the front page of the Clark County section for two consecutive days (Aug. 21 and 22). What bothered me about the stories was the illogical treatment of the Humane Society by the general public.
The Humane Society provides a valuable service by taking in dogs that are loose on the street and it followed its standard protocol with the happy ending being a new adoptive family. The adopting family showed good will by taking Hunter to a veterinarian and spending a good deal of money, but because of social pressure they returned him to the Humane Society.
Both the Humane Society and adopting family were doing good deeds but were vilified by the general public through social media. That treatment was very disappointing and made no sense whatsoever. The only negligence in this whole scenario was done by whoever allowed the dog to get loose in the first place. Yes, Hunter’s owner is a firefighter and we all appreciate that, but his dog should have been placed in proper care during his absence.
