Huffington Post – Hundreds Of Abused Dogs Have A Second Chance Thanks To This Amazing Chicago Rescue Program
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This is Braveheart. Her owner was arrested on felony animal cruelty charges in August 2014. At the time, Braveheart was covered in bite marks, her muzzle was swollen and her ear had been ripped in half.
She was impounded as evidence in the criminal case against her owner.
Not long ago, a Chicago-area dog like Braveheart would have been warehoused until the owner’s case was decided or the owner gave up the dog. But even then, the animal’s future wouldn’t have been bright. “The dogs were in legal limbo, and then routinely euthanized following the disposition of their owners’ cases,” says Cynthia Bathurst, founder of the Safe Humane Chicago group, which works to make life better for dogs in the legal system.
Thanks to the efforts of this group, Braveheart and many others like her are now available for loving homes. (Here’s Braveheart’s adoption listing.)
Since 2010, Safe Humane’s Court Case Dogs program has been seeking more favorable outcomes for dogs who have had the misfortune to be pulled into the legal process. January marks the fifth anniversary of this program.
Bathurst and Safe Humane Chicago board member Keri Burchfield — a sociology professor who studies animal crime — recently spoke with The Huffington Post by email about what has changed for dogs like Braveheart in the last five years, and how these changes benefit not just the dogs, but also the people around them.
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