The story of Chico, the severely neglected chihuahua found during a drug arrest, has a happy ending. Chico has recovered, and Allen County Sheriff's Department Officer Brock Williams, one of the officers who found him, has adopted him. But even a heartwarming tale can have a sour note:
(Director Belinda) Lewis said Animal Care and Control has been criticized for publicizing Chico's story, while a toddler taken from the same home by Child Protective Services has not gotten much coverage in the media.
But Lewis said animal neglect situations are handled differently from cases involving children, and Chico presented a chance for Animal Care and Control to connect with people. “It was an emotional bond for the community,” she said.
She has a point. Animal Care and Control workers can't be blamed for using Chico's story to get a positive message out about the agency. And it's not their fault that the agencies dealing with the 2-year-old child in the case aren't trying to get publicity or that the media aren't biting. And in the local media's defense, the case of animal cruelty was said to be among the worst the officers ever encountered. And the neglect charges involving the child weren't for what was done to her but what might have happened: The scumbags in the arrest kept drugs and a loaded gun in her room.
Still. It does seem sometimes that animal-cruelty stories get more publicity than child-neglect cases, doesn't it? Are they more heart-tugging or shocking, or have we just become too numb to parental malefeasance?
