This was sent to the Ministry of the Environment and copied to The Royal Gazette.March 2, 2012

Dear Sir,

My name is Tim Young. I am from Canada and have been watching the case of Venom, the pitbull. I was very angered and frustrated when I read what had transpired in the case. There seems incredibly little caring about the rights of animals with the dog wardens, but also with the court. The little investigating necessary and the work involved are completely obvious and simple. It greatly bothers me that such basic tasks as finding out (or admitting) who owns the dog, collecting unlicensed strays, or recognising and stopping a completely obvious and repeated case of extreme neglect and abuse, were not things that the wardens could accomplish, and that justice and reason weren't able to be demanded by any other part of the system, despite the pleas from the SPCA. The complaints were made repeatedly, with the dog unlicensed, and it is completely obvious who is responsible. The number of clear signs - having scars all over, signs indicative of having being in dog fights, lethargy, swelling, emaciation to the point of starvation, are a mountain of indicators.

There are so many things I'd rather be doing right now than writing this e-mail. There's wonderful powder just outside - I could be skiing right now, or biking, or doing any number of wonderful things, but I find myself having to sit and write a letter like this, to respond to a ridiculous situation.

It makes me wonder what is wrong with people! What are the wardens being paid for? What power does the court have, or is the court just passive and impotent? I hope you find this case as disturbing as I do. It is wrong, and the system shouldn't be standing for it.

TIM YOUNG

Edmonton, Alberta