The Inhumane Society
Like many of my fellow unfortunate Americans, I am financially challenged. And similarly again, my challenges are often subsequently nullified by my sacrifice of certain luxuries in life. Thus, I often find myself sitting amongst the irritating drone and humid air of a laundromat, reluctantly loading my garments into what I pray is a somewhat sanitary device—something my naivety could hardly convince me of prior to last week—that is, prior to my encounter with the “Humane Society” (which I found is anything but).
After thumbing most of my collected change into a machine primed to bathe my clothing in the entire Boise-bench area’s bacteria, they arrived. Their hands, already enshrouded in precautionary latex gloves, clutched mysteriously large and bulbous black garbage bags. Although I was careful not to let my eyes impolitely affix to their activities for more than a few seconds at a time, I started my machine’s wash-cycle and stood against it as I witnessed the pair of scrub-clad “humane” employees fill the majority of the remaining fifty machines with the donated blankets and quilts now belonging to the captured vagrant dogs of the community. One by one, I watched as the two twenty-something women loaded a variety of linens completed fused together by dried excrements of thick, amber urine and then-black, semi-solid animal feces. All the while, the anonymous employees joked of how disgusting each piece of cloth was; and laughing, threatened to force them into each other’s faces.
My attention immediately turned to my own clothing, now in the midst of an already disease-filled, albeit soapy rumble. How many times before had I entrusted the fabric I wrap my body in, nestle into when cold, and clean myself with to a machine previously used by a “humane” employee? One who doesn’t even possess at least the common courtesy to shake the fecal matter out of the wadded blankets she loads into the cleansing apparatuses? How often does this happen? How many other victims of the Inhumane Society’s negligence are there?
I dare not ponder the answers to such questions long as they provide for the nightmarish visualizations of horrific hypothetical scenarios; and thus far, have already invoked my false sensations of lumps of animal waste in the pocket of every shirt, and the toe of every sock I have since inserted my body into, as well as a mistakenly discerned aroma of animal urine on every item and article of clothing in my wardrobe, even those I did not submit to the contamination of the dog population’s toilet—also known as the Vista Laundromat.
A few questions I have deliberated (to my sanity’s extent) have pertained to the self-designated “Humane” Society’s title and the organization’s worthiness of carrying such a chaste moniker, especially when coupled with the calculated guilt-campaigns most apparently evident in their weekly ads of sad looking creatures in the newspaper. Countless times have the homeless pets’ eyes pleaded from the page, immediately under the again-repeated misappropriation, “humane.” How dare they hypocritically capitalize on the compassion and charity of the very civilians they secretly expose to the formerly domesticated animals’ infectious waste! Again, this is all conducted under the guise of a “humane” society! Need they be reminded that humanity extends beyond the specie of canines?
The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines “humane” as follows: “Marked by compassion, sympathy, or consideration for humans or animals.” The Oxford English Dictionary reads: “Characterized by such behaviour or disposition towards others as befits a man,” and later provides the alternative definition: “Marked by sympathy with and consideration for the needs and distresses of others; feeling or showing compassion and tenderness towards human beings and the lower animals….” To be sure my inquiries into the definition of the word were receiving absolutely undated, contemporary replies, I also sought the declarations of Dictionary.com, which reiterated the previous definitions, offering these words to define “humane”: “Characterized by tenderness, compassion, and sympathy for people and animals, esp. for the suffering or distressed.”
A consistent quality throughout the collected definitions (and one that cannot be neglected) is the repeated reference to humans, mankind, and people—each time, taking precedence over the mentioning of animals—creatures the self-proclaimed “accepted authority” of the Oxford English editorial staff even describes as “lower.” Perhaps the Inhumane Society disagrees with the accepted authority’s unfavorable estimation of the creatures. Perhaps many humans do. Would they have the audacity, however, to disagree with The Department of Health and Human Services (note: human services) Centers for Disease Control and Prevention? The organization, abbreviated as the CDC, warns of Cryptosporidiosis specifically, a diarrheal disease caused by microscopic parasites that live in the intestines of the host—human or animal—is found present in the feces, and is passed through the stool of the infected. According to the “Fact Sheet” supplied to the general public by the CDC, the parasite is protected by an outer shell that allows it to survive on surfaces and material outside of the body for long periods of time. The shell also makes it very resistant to cleaning products, even chorine disinfectants. The informational article continues to detail the “Crypto” disease, stating:
“While this parasite can be transmitted in several different ways, water is a common method of transmission and Cryptosporidium is one of the most frequent causes of waterborne disease among humans in the United States”.
But this is not an issue, as every itinerant mongrel circulated through the “Humane” Society’s facility is vaccinated against such intestinal parasites, right? Wrong. The Idaho Inhumane Society only vaccinates its canine visitors against Distemper, Hepatitis, Parainfluenza, Parvo, and Rabies, a list dwarfed by other veterinary clinics in the Treasure Valley (ones without morally reprehensible underbellies). This information was shockingly displayed upon the official website of the private, non-profit organization, only to later be proudly confirmed by my direct questioning of its contemptible members and certified veterinarians.
Then, why isn’t the general public aware of these atrocities? Perhaps it is because the Inhumane Society’s irresponsible exposing of the community to Cryptosporidiosis is in essence the perfect, undetectable crime. The symptoms associated with the infection are shared with many other common ailments and diseases, including an upset stomach, diarrhea, abdominal cramping, loss of weight, dehydration, and sometimes fever. A small percentage of individuals do not experience any symptoms at all. For others however, particularly immuno-compromised individuals such as AIDS and cancer patients, the contagion could be fatal and is often initially misdiagnosed as another illness due to its ambiguous indications, only further proving the danger of the animal shelter’s continued delinquency.
In reiteration of the CDC’s information on one of several potential diseases the Inhumane Society carelessly and dangerously exposes the Boise human population to: Cryptosporidium is an interspecies parasite passed through the fecal matter of infected humans and animals, is resilient against forms of cleanser and liquid sanitation methods, attaches to and survives upon a variety of surfaces and material, and is most often transmitted through environments consisting of water—lots of water. That would make a public washing machine filled with the waste of the animals, inadequate detergent, plentiful fabric for any microorganisms to take refuge in, and gallons of water, the ideal breeding (and infecting) grounds for “Crypto.”
Article III section B of the Compendium of Veterinary Standard Precautions: Zoonotic Disease Prevention in Veterinary Personnel clearly states that (somebody nudge the “Humane” Society—they may want to know this) “all feces and urine should be presumed infectious”. This, occurring in the document after Cryptosporidiosis is specifically mentioned in its prefacing summary, and before the condition is included in the supplied analytical chart of “Zoonotic Diseases of Importance in the United States,” where it receives indicative marks in the “nationally notifiable for humans,” “severe disease,” and “fatalities reported in humans” columns. On several occasions within the text, the document also reveals the appalling and disturbing admission: “Infection control measures vary from [veterinary] practice to practice and are often insufficient to prevent zoonotic disease transmission”, but ideals such as attempting to uphold ethical conduct and moral accountability couldn’t possibly be included under the encompassment of terms like “humane” or “humanity,” could they?
The unfortunate reality of the situation is that, to prevent the further victimization of the innocent by the despicable Inhumane Society’s reckless endangerment, the exposed population must take action itself. The mere occurrence of such heinously immoral acts on behalf of the “Humane” Society, and the reluctantly accepted possibility of their indefinite and unnoticed repetition in the past, serve as evidence to the necessity of a certain initiative among the people they have subjected to such foul and detestable mistreatment. We, the potentially infected people, must bring attention to the injustices and offenses of the deceptive organization.
Firstly, public outcry must take place, referencing the benefaction-funded association’s blatant violations of Ada County Code Ordinance 644, section 5-2-5, which details the authorized commercial and residential disposal sites of animal waste the Board of Ada County Commissioners calls “stable matter” (none of said sites including the bottom of a laundromat washing machine). We must contact all aspects of local, if not national media, and inform them of our disgusting findings. We must then adequately equip their reporters with the terrible truth so that they may utilize the investigative and expansive resources we do not have access to ourselves; and through them, alert the local philanthropists and businesses that regularly attain a sense of prideful benevolence and significant tax alleviations for their charitable contributions to the vile offenders.
Secondly, monitoring and regulation of the Inhumane Society’s mandatory safety compliances should be intensified and increased, which can be initiated and accomplished through the people’s alerting and seeking assistance from the Idaho Public Health Association as well as other health and safety oriented organizations to influence the development and implementation of appropriate legislation. Within the proposed increased level of governance and transparency, the Inhumane Society should be required to institute and operate adequate, on-site laundry facilities used exclusively in the cleaning of soiled linens and protective veterinary garments.
Although an effective treatment for “Crypto” has yet to be approved for use in canines or humans, experimental research by the U.S. Department of Agriculture National Animal Disease Center into a vaccination for infected and highly susceptible cattle calves has produced favorable results, including both a reduction of the symptoms and the amount of oocysts (contagious cells) found present in the stool of the infected. Because Cryptosporidiosis has little or no host specificity, the same parasitic species is infective for calves, humans, and other animals—meaning a comprehensive vaccine is well within the foreseeable future. Upon the innovation of an effective immunization for canines, the community should thirdly demand further measures be required to screen and inoculate animals admitted to the welfare shelter and facilities against Cryptosporidiosis as well as other communicable diseases as sufficient methods of treatment become available for them.
Last week, I witnessed first-hand the horrors the Inhumane Society has been unscrupulously committing behind the backs and inside the public appliances of the surrounding community. I remained in quiet, discretionary shock for the duration of my wash, rinse, and separate drying cycle, only moving from the edge of my machine once to secretly take valuable, evidentiary photographs of the dated, white truck that boasted the official seal of the “Humane” Society’s effrontery against the backdrop of the weathered laundromat with my cellular phone.
“I may need some ammunition,” I told myself, as I quickly hid my intentions from the then exiting “humane” employees. After waiting until the rear of their grumbling vehicle disappeared into the heavy traffic of the adjacent Vista avenue, I returned to tend to my then finished and dry clothes—only to find, that in the absolute negligent and reckless irresponsibility I now associated with the Inhumane Society, the employees who epitomized the carelessness of their loathsome employer had added several of the soiled linens into the same machine as my own clothing. “Oh yeah,” I muttered with a newly ignited vengefulness, “I’m definitely going to need some ammunition.”
