The leash-free walks of an 11-year-old Australian cattle dog prompted complaints, an online petition of support and a City Council meeting that drew crowds.
City Divides and Unites for a Dog Called Blue
By FERNANDA SANTOS
Published: June 15, 2012
Mark Holm for The New York Times
ELEPHANT BUTTE, N.M. — This is the story of a leash, a law and a city’s dueling definitions of compassion. It is a story of limits tested and stretched; of strife, threats and, possibly, compromise.
Mostly, though, it is a story about a dog named Blue who, this week, brought this small desert city together after nearly tearing it apart.
The City Council held a meeting on Wednesday to decide Blue’s fate.
He was born here 11 years ago and was soon abandoned to wander the streets, even before Elephant Butte — sandwiched between a city named Truth or Consequences and a desert basin called the Jornada del Muerto, the route of a dead man — became a city.
He has been no one’s dog, or everybody’s dog.
He was born here 11 years ago and was soon abandoned to wander the streets, even before Elephant Butte — sandwiched between a city named Truth or Consequences and a desert basin called the Jornada del Muerto, the route of a dead man — became a city.
He has been no one’s dog, or everybody’s dog.
Blue’s thick fur is speckled with gray, a trademark of his breed — he is an Australian cattle dog — but also a sign of his age.
There was a time when he could dash across State Highway 195 to “do his business,” as one supporter put it, in a spot that he has used for as long as anyone can remember.
There was a time when he could dash across State Highway 195 to “do his business,” as one supporter put it, in a spot that he has used for as long as anyone can remember.
Now, cars must stop and wait, and wait, and wait, to give Blue the time he needs to cross the road.
Blue has a bank account to keep donations he has received by mail and in person at the Butte General Store and Marine, where he hangs out ($1,800 was its balance).
He also has a pro bono lawyer from Albuquerque, Hilary A. Noskin.
He also has a pro bono lawyer from Albuquerque, Hilary A. Noskin.
The story began two years ago, when a woman filed a complaint against Blue, saying he had threatened her while she walked her dogs.
Mr. Owen, meanwhile, applied for a variance to the city’s leash law, allowing Blue to keep on living as he always had, leash-free, which is what prompted Wednesday’s meeting.
It drew a record crowd to the municipal building.
A compromise was reached:
A compromise was reached:
The city will grant Ms. Connor and Mr. Owen, Blue’s guardians, an exception to its ordinance, she said, so they can install an electronic fence around the general store’s property, a large corner lot.
The next day, Blue, for the first time anyone can remember, wore a leash for his morning walk along the dog path behind the local R.V. park.
Read the rest of this great post here (NY Times)
City Divides and Unites for a Dog Called Blue - I4U News
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