Editorial: A dog's day in court

Island County Superior Court is a strange place to be arguing the fate of a pound puppy.

Last week, the Whidbey Animals’ Improvement Foundation found itself arguing against a couple that wants to adopt “Smiley,” a dog that WAIF officials decided is too snippy to be adopted. Smiley had shown aggressive treatment toward humans on more than one occasion, and WAIF didn’t want to risk the possibility that someone could be hurt. The concern is over the welfare of the human who adopts Smiley, and also of a possible lawsuit with WAIF as the target should someone get bitten.

It’s sad that Smiley was slated to be put to sleep because of his status as an unadoptable dog, but such is life at the animal shelter. WAIF is a “minimal kill” shelter, meaning that the organization, made up largely of volunteers, really hates to send an animal to its death. It goes to extraordinary lengths to assure that every unwanted dog and cat has a chance to find a loving home. Many animals are fed and otherwise maintained for months until a suitable home is found. Some shelters simply give animals a time limit, but WAIF isn’t like that. Any stray or abandoned animal is lucky to be in the hands of WAIF, which does an outstanding job of running Island County’s animal shelter program with extremely limited financing.

The people who wanted to adopt Smiley went to court to try to convince a judge to force WAIF to adopt the dog out to them. The judge gave the dog a reprieve from his scheduled Nov. 13 date to be euthanized but didn’t otherwise interfere with WAIF’s discretion. Hopefully, this is a one-time case and won’t set a trend in going to court over WAIF’s decision-making process.

While it may be true that every dog has its day, every dog should not have its day in court. It’s time consuming, expensive, and detracts from WAIF’s difficult mission, which is caring for the unwanted pets in Island County. Hopefully the judge will see it that way.

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