Rantz: Feel good story about saving abused dog shows everything wrong with Seattle
Nov 13, 2024, 5:55 PM

The Seattle community saved an abused dog. (Photo courtesy of 成人X站 7)
(Photo courtesy of 成人X站 7)
An adorable pit bull named Angel was seen in a video suffering alleged abuse at the hands of her owner. After the video went viral, Seattle dog lovers 鈥 and even a city council member 鈥 rallied to help.
Seattle City Council member Joy Hollingsworth recognized the building in the : a housing complex run by the King County Regional Homelessness Authority (KCRHA) to shelter the homeless. As with much of KCRHA’s work, the facility was clearly lacking in oversight, highlighting the reality that simply putting homeless individuals under a roof doesn鈥檛 magically address the broader issues at play, even if that’s the strategy employed by Progressive Seattle. Hollingsworth said she 鈥渋mmediately started triage鈥 to get the dog the help she needed.
Hollingsworth reached out to the building developer, complex management and the Seattle Police Department. She also collaborated with five concerned community members. Their persistence paid off.
The man in the video was arrested (although, predictably, Pro Tem Judge Nyjat Rose-Akins released him on his own recognizance). Angel, meanwhile, spent the night with Hollingsworth before being placed in a loving foster home.
What began as a disturbing story of animal abuse ended on a positive note, with Angel rescued and safe. But as heartwarming as this story is, it also serves as yet another reminder of Seattle鈥檚 deeper, ongoing problems that are being mostly ignored. This story only highlights what’s wrong with Seattle.
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Why don’t we have as much urgency saving homeless people as we do saving abused dog in Seattle?
Every day, we walk and drive past homeless people 鈥 human beings 鈥 enduring unimaginable suffering, trapped in untreated mental illness and shackled by fentanyl or meth addiction.
Take the TV reporter heading to City Hall for an interview with Hollingsworth: he likely passed by a homeless addict on the street, body twisted in a horrifying display of addiction鈥檚 grip, after freebasing fentanyl on the corner. When he regains just enough clarity as the high weakens, he鈥檒l likely shoplift a few remaining items from a local Target (since most are locked up now), sell the goods for a couple of bucks and then buy enough fentanyl to keep the cycle going. It鈥檚 a vicious cycle ending, inevitably, in an overdose.
So why aren鈥檛 city council members, community advocates and the media eager to tell that story? Where鈥檚 the urgency, the 鈥渢riage,鈥 to fix a homelessness crisis that only spirals deeper each day?
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We’re angry about a dog, but not a human?
When I first saw the video of Angel being abused, I was instantly enraged. The idea that anyone could beat an animal, especially a loyal dog, is beyond upsetting. Honestly, if someone even a dirty look, I鈥檇 be ready to go to war.
But when I walk past a homeless person struggling with addiction, lying in a pile of trash and human waste, my emotional response is different. I don鈥檛 feel the same seething anger I did watching Angel鈥檚 abuse. Maybe I should? Perhaps all of us should.
It鈥檚 easy to rationalize my feelings: animal abuse is shocking because it鈥檚 not something we regularly witness. But human suffering, on the other hand, has practically become a part of the Seattle landscape.
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Seattle normalizes homelessness, not dog abuse
I cover homelessness issues for a living; they鈥檙e central to and book, And yet, for too many of us in Seattle, homelessness has become disturbingly normalized. If you don鈥檛 see a man sprawled out on a downtown sidewalk or a tent pitched in a park, it鈥檚 noticeable by its absence. This isn鈥檛 normal, and it shouldn鈥檛 be this way.