Opinions letters
CONT’D
tunate decision that sometimes must be made to protect public safety.
The Einstein Debate
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n January 31, County Public Health Director of Animal Services Jan Glick mandated that a cocker spaniel named Einstein be euthanized. California’s Hayden Act requires animal shelters to allow rescue groups to pull dogs before they are euthanized. Our request to pull Einstein was denied, and he was killed. Second Chance Cocker Rescue has the resources to hire a trainer and ensure proper rehabilitation for Einstein. We have a long history of successfully working with cockers with behavior issues. We have previously taken dogs with behavior problems from this shelter. It is appalling that the Santa Barbara County shelters are increasing their euthanasia rate instead of working to decrease them like the rest of the shelters in California. Santa Barbara County’s numerous animal rescue organizations are not utilized even when they are begging to help. This is not the first time Jan Glick has done this, but we think it should be the last. — Elizabeth Mazzetti, President, Second Chance Cocker Rescue, S.B.
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n Animal Services, making the euthanasia decision is one of the most difficult things we do. An individual assessment of each animal is made, and Care and Evaluation meetings with volunteers and staff consider each animal and its history with the goal of:
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Maintaining a healthy animal population that does not overstress or overflow the shelter’s animal housing areas. Supporting the re-homing of temperamentally, behaviorally, and medically sound animals. Ensuring Animal Services does not place potentially dangerous animals in new homes. Ensuring the health and well-being of adoptable animals are not compromised by holding animals with identified health or behavior issues for prolonged periods. Euthanasia is recommended for animals that
are irremediably suffering; are vicious or behaviorally unsuitable for adoption; have a bite history or propensity for aggression; show signs of stress in kenneling; and have failed behavioral evaluation. In the case of Einstein, he had a behavioral history of multiple bites and was considered a public safety risk and potentially dangerous. The dog was determined to be unadoptable after three bites, including two face bites. He was not safe to be put out in the community. Per the Hayden Act, Santa Barbara County’s policy is that no adoptable animal should be euthanized if it can be adopted into a suitable home. However, Animal Services may not release a dog with a bite history at the request of a nonprofit rescue organization in the interest of public safety. Animal Services is committed to finding the best solution for community safety and for the dog involved. Euthanasia is an unfor-
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THE INDEPENDENT
february 6, 2014
— Susan Klein-Rothschild, MSW Deputy Director, Santa Barbara County Public Health Department
The ArmenianTurkish Debate
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e join the Turkish-American citizens of California and Pax Turcica Institute to oppose Assembly Bill , which seeks to teach a one-sided and legally unfounded “Armenian genocide” narrative in our public schools. All genocides have been determined through court tribunals and verdicts. The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that genocide is “a very narrowly defined legal notion which is difficult to prove” in the Armenian case. ECHR also doubted that there could be a general consensus on the alleged “Armenian genocide” as it remains a matter of historical debate. Reputable American scholars, including Bernard Lewis and Stanford Shaw, have come to the same conclusion as the court. During World War I, over half a million Turks, Kurds, and other Muslims were massacred by the Armenian armed groups, fighting alongside the Russian, Greek, and French armies, with an aim to carve an ethnic Armenian state. While we share the pain of innocent Armenians who perished in World War I, memories of the nonArmenian victims are insulted by this bill. We urge a vote against this bill. The young generations should have a choice not to be indoctrinated using a single disputed viewpoint. — Vedat Alemdar, Omer Komili, Artemis Ozten, and Vugar Seidov, Goleta
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hat the Armenian genocide is legally unfounded is completely irresponsible. The denial of the Armenian genocide by Turkish descendants is notorious. Turkey, as a nation, refuses to admit to the slaughter of the Armenians. They have been denying it since it happened in 1915. Thousands of books have been written on the reality of the Armenian genocide by people more prominent than Hillary Clinton or any of those referenced. It is well-known that Hitler based what he did to the Jews on what the Turks did to the Armenians. He ended his speech on invading Poland with “Who, after all, speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?” One of the most educated commentaries about the Armenian genocide was published in the L.A. Times, that the Armenian genocide was the first genocide of that century, and if the world had interfered, that would have set the precedent that genocide is unacceptable by nations; that would have prevented every other genocide of that century. The Armenians were the first nation of people to accept Christianity from the Emperor Constantine, in ad 301. They lived secularized in the Ottoman Empire, surrounded by the Muslim Turks. The Ottoman Empire was tolerant of Christians. When the Ottomans were overthrown by the “Young Turk” Guard, that tolerance was over. The Turks slaughtered millions of Armenian Christians to ethnically cleanse their realm. The atrocities are compared to the Holocaust. I encourage readers to contact the Museum of Tolerance in L.A. to learn the truth. — Alicia St. John, S.B.