A walk to remember: Rossland dog owners hope to make a difference
By Crickets
The tragic story of the Whistler sled dog deaths sparked an emotional response around the world. Canadians were stunned by the senseless loss of life; many were angry enough to post fiery comments on Facebook, some were angry enough to make death threats against the perpetrators, but how many are angry enough to do something meaningful?
This is what Amanda Hamilton of Tails Pet Supplies & Services is hoping to find out this coming weekend; “I saw all the negativity on the internet and thought ‘let’s take all this anger and outrage and channel it into something positive’. I’ve been saying to people for years that if you want to help the animals, you need to change the laws.”
She is organizing a “Walk for Animal Welfare” for dogs and their keepers on February 20th at 2:00pm, beginning at the Centennial trail-head. In addition to showing their love and support for canines everywhere, walkers will have the opportunity to sign petitions and letters calling for both changes in animal cruelty legislation and government funding for the cruelty investigation division of the SPCA. The public may not be aware that the BC Liberals cut funding for such investigations in 2009, and they now run solely on public donation.
“At least the Whistler 100 served to enlighten people about current legislation,” Hamilton adds, “Hopefully this terrible tragedy can become a wonderful opportunity to change our cruelty laws.”
Of course those without dogs are encouraged to join the walk, and anyone unable to make it will have an opportunity to sign the petitions at Tails in the days following the event. For more information, the public can check the Facebook event page under “Walk for Animal Welfare – Rossland” or contact Amanda at Tails @ 250-362-5385.
A parallel walk is taking place the same day and time at Trail’s Gyro Park for those living in outlying areas. The Trail event is being spearheaded by Sarah Fulcher of Bark’s & Rec, who can be contacted at 250-521-BARK.
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