Rage

   I've seen the story, at least a dozen times, of the dog  hobbling along in its struggle to walk.  It's a nice looking dog, alert and gentle appearing, but it is in bad shape, and as the story unfolds is doomed.    The story is the dog was found in a ditch along a roadside, with  broken limbs and a shattered jaw.  The search is on for whoever did this to the poor animal.  The public outcry is fostered by the media, with insistence that those responsible be brought to justice.  Public comments range from more stringent prosecution to inflicting the same injuries as the dog suffered.  I agree that animal abuse is a heinous crime and those who are guilty of such deserve punishment, but I wonder about the pent-up rage that triggers such a  rush to judgment.  I don't know all the facts, but wouldn't it seem plausible that a dog found injured in a roadside ditch might likely have been struck by a car, and since the dog was apparently not run over, but possibly sideswiped, that the driver may have been unaware.  Couldn't the dog have been lost, wandered away from home, or maybe even have gotten loose at a rest stop somewhere?  He looked and acted like a well cared for animal.  That scenario is sad enough.  But it seems many people, incited by the repeated visuals, want to believe that somebody---out there somewhere---beat the dog mercilessly and then threw it in a ditch like a piece of trash.  The beat goes on  to find that somebody and make sure he or she or they pay the price.  It may be true that a vicious animal abuser needs to be brought to justice in this case, but reason dictates that, as the saying goes, when you hear hoofbeats on  a ranch, think horses, not camels.