Inside the homes in the Brownsville neighborhood of Brooklyn, it was warm and bellies were full just three days after Christmas. However, outside, the weather was freezing cold with pouring rain, and an abandoned skinny Labrador-mix puppy was chained to a fence, soaked to the bone and shivering.
But for the then-11-month-old puppy, his holiday present for 2018 would come in the form of New York Police Department officer Michael Pascale, who was on patrol that day.
The chained-up puppy had no tags or visible ID and was “shaking, crying, but pretty much frozen.” He seemed to be begging Officer Pascale for help. “He was just looking up at me with these eyes… sitting in this puddle of water.”
Moved by his plight, Pascale and his partner rescued the dog and took him to a local animal care center for treatment. Pascale decided to call the dog Joey, after one of the canines in the Disney classic “Lady and the Tramp” (1955).
When the officers took the dog to the shelter, Pascale volunteered to dry the dog off himself. “As I was wiping him off and he was getting all dry, he was still crying, but he kept looking up and just kept licking my face,” the officer said.
“When I saw Joey, tied up and chained in that park, I knew I had to take care of him and bring him home, and give him all the love and attention that I know he deserves,” Pascale said in a video for PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals).
Even after everything he has been through, “Joey is an energetic, fun-loving, lovable dog.”
Pascale then spoke about the importance to stop neglecting and abusing dogs in a video for PETA. He believes that it’s wrong to leave animals outside in the bitter cold especially with little or no shelter. He asserted that “animals are just like humans, they need to stay warm, they need to stay comfortable.”
The officer made a comparison to children to underscore how cruel and dangerous it is to prevent animals from seeking shelter by chaining them up. “You wouldn’t do that to your 3-year-old, to put them out there, because you need some space in your house, or you don’t want to deal with child right now.”Pascale and PETA advise people to contact authorities if they see animals being mistreated.
PETA also noted that restraining a dog for long periods of time can also be an indicator of other kinds of abuse. “Chained dogs are often deprived of adequate food, water, shelter, veterinary care, socialization, and affection. And because they’re unable to escape, they can fall victim to other animals, cruel humans, fires, and flooding.”
The police department has a responsibility to do what Pascale did as a first responder to “bring them to an animal hospital or an animal care center, get them checked out, as well as start looking into a possible investigation into animal abuse.”
Now Joey is living his best life, though there are many other animals out there who still suffer.
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