Seriously. Joy Douglas from Boulder, CO decides to dye Cici, her poodle, pink to raise awareness for breast cancer. Unfortunately for her, the city's code states, "No person shall dye or color live fowl, rabbits, or any other animals." It's an odd law to have on the books, but apparently it's to keep people from dying bunnies pink at Easter. Whatever.I have issues with this woman for a number of reasons.
1. She named a poodle "Cici".
2. She owns a poodle. Nobody takes people with poodles seriously.
3. I'm aware that breast cancer exists. Dying a poodle (or anything else for that matter) pink is not going to make me more aware. I also believe I am not unique in my awareness of breast cancer - most people have heard of it. In fact, I'd say awareness of breast cancer in the U.S. is probably hovering around the 99% mark.
4. I think the money spent on dying her dog could have been put to better use. Like, I don't know, contributing it to cancer research.
5. She got fined for the wrong thing. I don't care if she dyed her dog - wearing those tights has to be breaking some kind of city ordinance.
The article states that this isn't the first dog she's dyed. Apparently "Lulu" had been dyed before, but has since died, making Lulu a dyed dead dog. Did Ms. Douglas dye Lulu black for her funeral? We can only speculate.
Now some choice quotes from Ms. Douglas:
"I have a personal connection to my animal, I would never hurt my animal, I have a business full of little beautiful animals that are treasures for not only myself but the community."
"Cici is being stripped of her civic duty, and I don't plan to take it sitting down."
"The police department claims that we dye our dogs. We do not dye our dogs. We color the dogs."
This was the first time I'd been made aware that animals could have civic duties. Huh. For the original story, as well as some video footage of this staunch activist and her little dog too, click here.
