Supposed dog lover, Governor Quinn, thinks he has hit on a huge issue and with the help of the media is milking it for all it’s worth. Senator Brady reacting to some Veterinarians sponsored a bill allowing more than one Animal to be euthanized in a gas chamber at one time. A gas chamber takes longer for the animals to pass and it seems they were worried that the animals would attack each other too. The pro animal groups got all upset over it and Senator Brady took his name off the bill. The Governor has grabbed hold of this issue and has gone so far as to publicize his visit to the Dog show today and say his Lt.Governor should be a dog lover.

I have to point out that our state is going through double digit unemployment. The state is billions of dollars in the red, we are behind in payments to the elderly, doctors, schools and every social service agency there is. We in Illinois should be used to it, this has been going on for quite some time now; ever since the Democrats took over the state in 2002 we have been at the bottom in jobs created and at the top in jobs lost. I am not trying to make a joke of this like the Governor is. These numbers reflect real people and real hardship. Senator Brady was trying to help solve a real problem. Depending on where you live the number of pets being delivered to shelters is up by as much as a third, not including the numbers roaming the countryside, forest preserves or on the streets of the cities.

I was looking at some numbers and it seems that the abandoned pet situation has followed the dismal economic situation in Illinois, going so far as to be called a crisis by animal rights groups. At a summit September 17th 2009 in Chicago sponsored by the ASPCA and hosted by the Anti Cruelty Society called “Animals, Evictions and Foreclosures”; experts gathered to set policy here and see if it makes sense to apply it across the country. One of the panelist Patricia Rushing said “It’s not only families who are being foreclosed on who are suffering; It’s families who can’t afford their own medicine or families now going to a food bank. How can they afford a pet’s medication or even pet food?” Jane McBride of the Illinois Attorney Generals office confirmed that since the economic downturn began far more pets are being abandoned. Most people don’t realize that it is illegal for someone to leave pets in foreclosed buildings, they could be prosecuted she said, so people release them in the forest preserves or just open the doors and let them fend for themselves to be picked up by animal control.

About.com reports that the average cost of owning a dog costs between $700-2800 dollars a year, and that does not include any problems that would require a Vets attention operations could cost thousands of Dollars. The Governor has been in the Administration that has brought us this economy and he wants to hurt working families more by raising taxes more! How many more pets will he cause to be abandoned? Or is the state providing money to help these Animals? Instead of Governor Quinn Grandstanding on this issue he should wonder why people who devote their lives to helping animals would have to request a cheaper way to put more animals down? It is more expensive to inject every animal as opposed to gas. Will Governor Quinn ask for legislation to provide free or low cost drugs for these Veterinarians, so they can do it his way? Don’t bet on it! As they say in Texas the Governor is “all hat no horse”

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Jim Leahy is a regular columnist for the Chicago Daily Observer

image WWI History by C.R.M.F. Cruttwell, renowned dog lover and Oxford Don