Who Was Dumping the Dead Dogs of Hamden, Connecticut?
The town police chief, that's who, and he had to answer for it at a recent town meeting:
Police Chief Thomas J. Wydra and the animal control officers were quizzed on why unclaimed, untagged dogs were dumped over a cliff at the landfill and transfer station.
Whenever I see the words "police chief" I reach for my Browning, I think about Chief Brown, Encyclopedia's dad, the Bull Conner of Idaville, Florida.
Beyond the seeming inhumanity (inhumaneness?) of the act, Chief Wydra said he dumped the dead dogs in the interests of taxpayers:
Wydra says all domestic animals will be cremated instead of buried. He says he wanted to save about $2,000 in yearly cremation costs.
So, libertarians, it's still all about tradeoffs. What do you want, good government or less spending? Arguably, that's not really a tradeoff. But would you be willing to spend more to treat dogs humanely? And in what other situations might greater expenditures be worth the added tax burden?
Note: This story caught my eye because Reason Foundation Vice President (and former publisher of reason magazine) Mike Alissi lives there.