Slow down and help

January 21, 2015 · 0 Comments

Dear editor:
I usually write about wildlife. However on January 3rd, when my son and I were en route to Burlington, when something happened that horrified us to no end. Whatever happened to human compassion? We sat at the lights as we were waiting to make a left onto the 400 southbound ramp on Mapleview. I spotted a beautiful golden lab standing on the hill coming out of the Walmart plaza area. Confused, no collar. Looking towards the 400. Then my biggest fear, it ran. Weaving in and out of traffic towards the 400 off ramp full of cars. I couldn’t get out as the light was green for ongoing traffic, so much traffic. I watched in horror. The dog ran in front of cars, weaving in and out. Did anyone get out? No. They swerved around it, honked their horns at it, confused it even more. It was so scared, lost and in trouble. I was livid. Three lanes of traffic on that off ramp and not one person could help. As we got around the corner we pulled over safely as I wanted to try to help that dog. By that time, somebody finally had stopped and a few people were out of their cars. But no dog in sight. Not enough people and not fast enough. Are we all in that much of a hurry you can just pass a life by who is in desperate need of help. A life terrified, lost and confused. Guess what people, if that dog made it to the 400 and you were on it, it could have been your life too. This was a serious emergency waiting to happen for more than that poor dog and all people could do is honk at it and swerve around it almost hitting it. I have seen some horrible things involving people and wildlife, but this beats them all.
This was not a safe position for us to be in when we turned and pulled over on the ramp, people speeding by like we weren’t there. I got back to the car. We noticed an OPP car was at the end of the ramp by the highway so we headed for him. But another car beat us there with the same thing in mind. That OPP car sped off immediately, but had to go a ways to get turned around. A caring person finally came forth and whoever they were, thank you.
We continued on with nothing we could do from our point. We saw two people stopping cars as we pulled away, obviously looking for that gorgeous dog. They looked frantic. They started running up the off ramp. Cars just continued on. Heaven forbid. As we got a little further along the highway the OPP car with lights flashing went barreling down the highway towards the scene north bound. Then another. We heard on Rock 95 that something was amiss on the 400 south bound but they had no more details. Never heard anything more. I can only hope the outcome was a good one for all. I have never felt so helpless towards an animal in need. Wrong place at the wrong time for me.
I have never ever felt so outraged at the behavior of my fellow man.
A big thank you to all of those people who finally did try to help and to the police that responded so quickly.
To the owners of that dog. I hope and pray for you and your dog that you got reunited safely. As a pet owner I know we do the best to protect our precious four legged family members. But I also know things can happen so very quickly.
Jennifer Howard,