13th March 2016: hearts broken. The decision had finally come to the stage that any longer we were asking our best friend to suffer life in distress. Our friend Sally at 12 midnight brought us to UCD ‘University College Dublin’ 24 hour service Veterinary care, on the grounds of Belfied, Dublin 4. The dignity which was afforded to him can only be a comfort for our anguish now. Our dear canine friend ‘Grandpa’ in latter years Jack Russell has moved to the spirit world and the sadness is overwhelming. The message is life is about loss and learning to live on. Some articles penned in the name of our great friend Jack Russell in the early days. The kindness of the staff at UCD to the animals and their owners is exceptional and thank you for this.
by Jack Russell – Social Justice and Ethics
Shame on us in Ireland.
When will we give dogs the recognition they deserve.
Sweden thankfully have identified our ignorance towards dogs and a Swedish woman reacted by setting up a Rescue Centre in Sweden, obtaining funds, and working with rescue centres here to house the unwanted and often tortured animals. In 2005, we put down over 25,000 dogs; presently it is about 16,000 dogs per year.
Does anyone watch Crufts https://www.crufts.org.uk/? Does anybody know what these dogs can do if given training? We all know about Dogs for the Blind. Now, we have dogs for Autistic children to help them gain the confidence to integrate in a society that can be so hostile to their heightened sense of awareness.
There are Alert Dogs for the elderly, they are primed to phone 999 or set off an alarm.
For people with epilepsy – dogs at a more acute sensitivity predict the fit. What a bonus a dog is to such a person.
Again I say well done Sweden but then again I would expect no less. It is the Nordic countries that show high regard for the Third World contributing both their time and money.
One suggestion: How alert is our Department of Environment to Science? Pubs, restaurants, coffee shops are still hostile to the dog as if it holds manifest bacteria; I ask is this an excuse – maybe they fear the dogs would scent out illegal drugs!!! or maybe some rodents!!! The Americans and Europeans seem to have overcome this one.
Science is they say to learn……well, as a person with quite a few disabilities, I took to getting the American Scientist magazine when I can. Last September, there was an article I found about Pets and Children. Western Australia University research found that contrary to common belief – Children and Pets may derive benefits…..it is to do with interchange of bacteria that increases the child’s immune system.
In the Ireland of today – the MRSA, the other public health issues – surely we need to think and put an end to hideous cruelty to animals.
Jack Russell
Quotation:
Bertolt Brecht : German playwright. Here and Now……….
‘Don’t be afraid of death so much as an inadequate life’
Personal commentary will follow but note these words were written by Jack Russell who travelled far and wide in Dublin 4 and Dublin 6. This is the year 2006 and with our disparate Government in Limbo this St Patrick’s Day, nothing has changed; people were being evicted even before the Recession of 2008. Now shamefully we have 1600 children living in hotel rooms; 37,000 people are more than 2 years in arrears and families are facing eviction.
by Jack Russell – Rat CatcherI am really surprised no-one, not even the Irish Property Owners Organisation or the Property Residential Board i.e. the tribunals or social services, or Threshold and housing agencies have replied.
These people are human beings who have worked many years and contributed to our tax system. Rather than apply for social housing back in the 1930’s and 40’s, 50’s, they chose another route. It was covered by the the Pre 1963 legislation which allowed owners of large houses to become private landlords charging rents and being allowed to divide their homes into the maximum tenancies.
Just think of the areas – Rathmines, Ranelagh, Wellington Road, Elgin Road, Waterloo Road; this policy was replicated throughout Ireland and Dublin. Who owns some of these near derelict properties with people living in some cases with no electricity?
A lot of people came up from the country and worked in our Civil Service, Banks, schools etc. They are now in retirement and without homes and so very vulnerable to the markets for property prices fast rising.
Surely, they have a right of tenancy if they have lived in a property for over 40 years? Do these people deserve to be harassed by a system that is governed by greed, pomposity, lacking in compassion. Where is the protection? Where is the law? Do people realise that now Government say they endorse social housing as distinct from prior policies – we now have no real stock of corporation houses to sell off to owners who wish to buy them.
The IPOA report that private owners feels hard done by given the Government policies in providing housing for Govt. tenants and that the rate of return on renting out a house can be a low as 3.5%.
Doesn’t sound too much to me for the responsibility involved in being a landlord, if we ever hit negative equity…….. (and so we did but that thankfully this period may be over by 2019 according to the ESRI). Me seriously I have my doubts.
Some integration is needed. Where a person is to be ejected by the Sheriff for having lived in her flat for nearly 30 years, the Health Services, the Legal Services, Threshold or the Like, etc ought to negotiate their rights under the 1980 Law, Section 17, rather than smother them from the facts in a bloated bureaucracy that ensures a path to homelessness.
Jack Russell (Really concerned about what is happening to certain vulnerable people)
canisgallicus 