Recently on a Toronto subway, to the horror of her fellow riders, a woman was seen biting and hitting her own dog. Disturbed by the abusive behavior, one passenger recorded the incident on video. It lasted about three minutes. The dog is seen yelping in apparent pain, trying to get away from the unhinged woman, but she keeps yanking it back with the leash. Unable to witness it any more, other passengers addressed the woman, asking her to stop, saying, “You gotta stop hitting your dog.” The woman, who was possibly on drugs, responded by saying, “Pardon? Who are you? What the f**k are you talking about?”
A passenger told a Toronto Transit worker that the woman was biting the dog’s tail. And eventually the train was stopped and three transit workers removed the ill behaved woman. It is not known if she faced any legal consequences from her cruel actions. But the rider who recorded the incident said “The whole train stopped, more than three TTC staff walked to her and then she got off the train. Someone like her should never own a dog or a pet.”
Subways are a melting pot of all kinds of folks. And under normal circumstances, most of them should and do mind their own business. But when animal cruelty or mistreatment of other riders is at stake? It’s time to get involved and offer help. Someday that one person needing help may be you. And of course you would be grateful for anyone who intervened to offer assistance and rescue you from a bad situation.
Thankfully, heroic people spoke up to stop this poor pup from continued abuse. And hopefully the dog was removed from its messed up owner. If you see something, say something and that goes for humans or animals who are being mistreated.
I live in Newark, DE, am married, and the mother of four children; Liam, Brenna, Keira and Erin. I am also a full time Bible teacher and have a Bachelor of Arts in Communication from West Chester University.