No one would disagree with the idea that all of us should be compassionate toward animals. And not only compassionate, but actively seeking to make their lives better. That includes making sure they aren't mistreated, and if we witness cases of that, doing the best we can to make it better.
This brings us to today's story. In it, a woman called animal control, because she was convinced she saw a dog with an unlawful owner at the park. Or at least that's what she said, but not everyone believed her.
More info: Reddit
While it's important to take care of animals, we shouldn't take this ability too lightly or even weaponize it against other people
Image credits: Zen Chung / Pexels (not the actual photo)
Apparently, the lady from today's story didn't get the memo about it, as she went out of her way to do just that
Image credits: Rusty Clark / Flickr (not the actual photo)
Basically, one day, she noticed a person of color playing with their golden retriever in a park
Image credits: nomadsoul1 / Freepik (not the actual photo)
She asked them a couple of questions and then removed herself from the situation, but not without calling animal control first
Image credits: Any_Expression8806
She lied to them, saying that the dog was a stolen one, which caused the person to confront her
One day, the OP was in the park with their golden retriever. They had raised this dog since it was an adorable small puppy, and now it’s their best friend, even if it is a little spoiled. The park they were spending time at was their usual place, so they didn’t expect anything out of the ordinary to happen.
Then this lady starts petting the dog and randomly asks the person if it’s their pet. When they answer that yes, it is their pet, she hesitates for a moment and asks how they got it, which was rather a weird question given their circumstances. After getting the answer, she walked away. It would have been more than fine if the story with her ended here, but, unfortunately, it didn’t.
Around half an hour later, as the OP was packing up to leave, an animal control truck pulled up and came up to them, saying they got a call about a potentially stolen dog. It didn’t take the author long to figure out that it was that suspicious lady from before – who else if not her?
The original poster showed the officer tags, photos, and microchip information that proved the dog was theirs, and when they left, they didn’t hesitate to go to Karen to confront her about her antics. When asked why she called animal control, she didn’t really have a proper answer, besides “looking out for a dog.”
Image credits: freepik / Freepik (not the actual photo)
It’s commonly agreed and motivated by activists that people should call animal control anytime they encounter a case of mistreatment. It includes obvious cases of mistreatment, such as someone being violent, but it doesn’t have to be only that to be considered a mistreatment. For instance, animals being kept in an inadequate shelter or being abandoned are considered cases worthy of a call to animal control as well.
If you think you are witnessing a pet being stolen or spending time with an unlawful owner, you might call animal control, too, just as the lady did in the story. If this were a case of a dog being stolen, it would have been the right decision coming from her. But the thing is that the OP doubts that animal welfare was really on her mind.
You see, the author is a person of color, and they assume that the lady must have used that to “justify” her decision. Sounds like very Karen-ish behavior, doesn’t it? And it’s well known that the modern definition of “Karen” is about a person who is comfortable with making unfounded claims, which often enough are against marginalized folks.
That’s why netizens didn’t see anything wrong with the OP confronting her and her entitlement to call animal control on someone, just because “only white people can own golden retrievers.” Do you agree with such an opinion?
People online thought the person did the right thing by confronting her – someone had to call her out on this racist nonsense
