Dogs and Sheep

Re “Suspected Sheep-Killing Dogs Captured,” July 23.

It should be noted that the two dogs rounded up are facing a death sentence only because they are “likely culprits.”

As a dog owner, I have misidentified neighborhood dogs on many occasions. I have also heard the deep pain and regret experienced by a friend and former 4-H member who cared for and loved a lamb, only to be indoctrinated to love the idea of selling her prized animal at an auction for eventual slaughter.

Am I alone in seeing the irony that, should the surviving lamb be nursed back to health, it will then be sold for slaughter too?

It is obvious that the two dogs, if they are indeed the culprits, were terribly abused by their original owners and perhaps had to hunt to survive. They were forced into this unfortunate behavior. Indeed, despite their abuse, they had even survived by looking after each other’s wounds.

Any way one looks at this sad situation, the responsibility comes back to people’s behavior, not the dogs’. But it will be the dogs who pay the biggest price.

LORI SPENCER, Woodland Hills