Whose Abuse Is It?

In response to the article, “Toll-Free Line Seeks to Curb Animal Abuse” (by Michael Quintanilla, Oct. 2), the case of a dog poisoning is mentioned as animal abuse.

This is not as serious a crime, in my opinion, as letting a dog run uncontrolled. I have small children. I would hate to have my child poisoned by someone else’s trash. I don’t think that is a high probability.

On the other hand, the chances of some “kind, gentle, wonderful” person’s dog biting me or my children are high. And the chances that I will find my little ones eating dog doodoo left on my yard are very high. I love dogs too much to own one myself, but I can understand why other people hold them in captivity. Protection of human rights is paramount, however. The owners who let their dogs run loose, get into other persons’ trash, and defecate on other persons’ yards are, in my opinion, guilty of child abuse.

DON KLEINHESSELINK, Riverside