Woman Faces $1,000 Fine For Pink Poodle: Dog Colored To Help Raise Breast Cancer Awareness
Boulder, Colo. — A Boulder woman has hired an attorney to fight a $1,000 fine she was given by the city for coloring her miniature poodle pink. Joy Douglas said she colored Cici pink to help raise awareness for breast cancer. The salon owner said she has used beet juice — and occasionally Kool-Aid — for four years now to “stain” her dog. Officials at the Humane Society of Boulder Valley told the Daily Camera Douglas was warned several times before she was issued the ticket on March 1. Douglas is accused of violating the city’s code that says “No person shall dye or color live fowl, rabbits, or any other animals.” It’s a code meant to keep people from dyeing rabbits and chicks at Easter.
Today’s “WTF?!?!?” moment comes to us from beautiful Boulder, CO, where, apparently having solved all other pressing problems that once faced this lovely college town, considerable energy is now being focused on intense degrees of silliness.
Having apparently found homes for all their abandoned animals and solved the problem of animal neglect in Boulder, the Humane Society is now turning to…well, I’m not quite sure what. Yes, I understand what the ordinance is designed to prevent, but is this really a case of animal abuse? And isn’t this ordinance a bit on the archaic side. Hey, oral sex is illegal in Minnesota (and yes, I’m a hardened criminal…sorry, bad pun….), but I don’t know that this law’s ever been enforced. There comes a time when it should be recognized that a law, though technically still on the books, does not serve the interests of the state or the people it serves.
Do you really think that Cici cared that her fur had been dyed pink? Hey, SHE’S A DOG!! Feed her, pet her…and she’s good to go, right?
Douglas said earlier that she planned to fight the ticket, claiming her she didn’t dye the dog, but stained it with natural beet juice. She also said her dog is helping to raise awareness for an important issue.
Cici is actually the second dog Douglas has colored pink.
Douglas first colored her white poodle Lulu four years ago when the dog accompanied her to a haircutting fundraiser for breast cancer research.
The hairstylist said people would bring “fistfuls of cash” just to pet the dog, so she kept up the color job. She only used organic products, and says she’s even worked with an organic pet company on developing safe colors for pets.
I agree that there should be laws on the books that proscribe animal abuse, People who would abuse and mistreat pets are, in my estimation, the lowest sort of scum. These people should be dealt with harshly, but is Joy Douglas guilty of animal abuse? I hardly think so. It’s not as if she stained Cici’s fur pink for no good reason. She was trying to draw attention to, and raise money for, breast cancer research. This is a bad thing?
It seems to me that the should be a point at which some effort should be expended in an effort to determine if Douglas is actually engaging in animal abuse. I would submit to you that she’s not…but what do I know?
When the Boulder Humane Society manages to eradicate animal abuse in their bailiwick, then come back to me and we’ll talk. In the meantime, doesn’t this seem as much ado about nothing? I’d certainly say so.
Get a grip, people….
