When Memphis Mayor AC Wharton held a press conference to announce that 3 workers at the pound had been indicted on animal cruelty charges, he said the abuse inflicted on the pets was obvious and indisputable:
“It’s easy enough for a second grader to know someone needs to get in trouble for what they did.”
In light of the Memphis pound’s continuing failures (pets being starved, forced to suffer to death and other atrocities), I wanted to find out how an actual second grader thought pets should be treated at an animal shelter. I asked around and guess what – second graders are hard to find! But one reader managed to come up with a second grader who not only answered the question posed but offered up his two siblings to share their thoughts as well. This is an audio recording of a second grader (age 7), a fourth grader (age 9), and a five year old answering the question: How do you think dogs and cats should be treated at the animal shelter?
Thank you to the anonymous reader who made this recording and to the 3 kids who participated. If anyone else knows a second grader who’d be willing to answer the question, please send me an audio or video recording and I’ll post it on the blog (assuming the parents give permission, of course).
Mayor Wharton, even a 5 year old knows that shelter pets should be treated nicely. Why are you continuing to allow animal abusers to work at your pound?
YesBiscuit! 
out of the mouths of babes..LOTS OF FOOD AND WATER.. I like this one ”GIVE THEM AWAY.. NO KILL.. WALKS..
maybe we should be hiring children to work there..
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I know. I just love their answers. I love too that they recognize that shelter pets need friends too.
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Well done! We need to get rid of the adults at the MAS and hire the smart ones….kids! Good interviews, thanks Shirley.
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From the 2009 Candle light vigil:
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So freakin adorable! And yeah, treating dogs and cats nicely is just common sense. Its a shame that the MAS workers/ACOs lack that and Wharton doesnt have the balls to stop it.
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Ok, so when the second child said, “fairly, with no kill,” I lost it. Thanks so much to our not so anonymous reader for saving that. I needed the boost to keep me focused.
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Hi, it’s me again. I forwarded this post to my MAS Contact list. I always forward these kind, asking for comments, etc. Of course they never reply, because it hurts to face the truth. Maybe I’ll get a reply this time. I did say maybe we should hire 5,7, and 9 year olds to run MAS since they know what should and should not be done. I explained retraining would not help. Only a brand new staff with compassion and caring should be hired. The rest need to go.
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