2stepz_ahead
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Once he had to put a dog out of its misery after it got hit by a car and broke its hip.
"I was just a kid and it was my responsibility," he said.
A decade ago, Gralenski adopted Zelda, a now-13-year-old beagle rescued in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. He knows he'll eventually face a decision about how to put her down.
"Zelda and I are buddies," he said. "It's probably been 15 years since we had one (that needed to be put down). It does not get easier in your old age. I guess it depends on how I feel financially at the time."
Joanne Bourbeau, the Vermont-based northeastern regional director for the Humane Society of the United States, acknowledged that enforcement might be difficult but just having a law on the books could serve as a deterrent.
"We would have a way to follow up," she said. "With the veterinary forensics we have now, it's very easy to prove that a crime was committed."
Christopher Almy, district attorney in Maine's Penobscot and Piscataquis counties, said his office has prosecuted plenty of animal cruelty cases over his three decades of service but he couldn't recall bringing a case against someone for putting their pet down. One recent case focused on a woman who shot and killed her entire herd of 10 goats, though the cruelty charge stemmed from the condition of a couple of the goats, not the way they were killed.
For her part, Treamer says times have changed and there are far better ways to end a pet's life. She couldn't imagine such a death for Dozer, her 5-year-old, pit bull-boxer mix.
"Just because that's the way it's always been done, that's not the way it should still be done," she said.
"I was just a kid and it was my responsibility," he said.
A decade ago, Gralenski adopted Zelda, a now-13-year-old beagle rescued in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. He knows he'll eventually face a decision about how to put her down.
"Zelda and I are buddies," he said. "It's probably been 15 years since we had one (that needed to be put down). It does not get easier in your old age. I guess it depends on how I feel financially at the time."
Joanne Bourbeau, the Vermont-based northeastern regional director for the Humane Society of the United States, acknowledged that enforcement might be difficult but just having a law on the books could serve as a deterrent.
"We would have a way to follow up," she said. "With the veterinary forensics we have now, it's very easy to prove that a crime was committed."
Christopher Almy, district attorney in Maine's Penobscot and Piscataquis counties, said his office has prosecuted plenty of animal cruelty cases over his three decades of service but he couldn't recall bringing a case against someone for putting their pet down. One recent case focused on a woman who shot and killed her entire herd of 10 goats, though the cruelty charge stemmed from the condition of a couple of the goats, not the way they were killed.
For her part, Treamer says times have changed and there are far better ways to end a pet's life. She couldn't imagine such a death for Dozer, her 5-year-old, pit bull-boxer mix.
"Just because that's the way it's always been done, that's not the way it should still be done," she said.
