Newtown Needs A New Dog Pound

To the Editor:

Spiritually, Newtown’s dog pound is in a great place! The animal control staff who care for the dogs are dedicated and caring; volunteers walk, train, and socialize the dogs to better their likelihood for adoption; and all dogs are spayed/neutered and receive all their shots before going out into the world for their second chance at a good life.

Physically, the dog pound isn’t in such great shape. Built many years ago, when a pound was an adjunct to the town dump — a perfect analogy to the throwaway status a homeless dog once held — Newtown’s pound suffers the odors and debris of the dump on a daily basis. Potential adopters have to wait in the dump traffic to get to the dogs, and then deal with the rather unpleasant conditions in which the prospective pets and the pound staff spend their days.

It was Gandhi who said that “the greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.” Let’s show just how we feel about animals in Newtown by supporting an up-do-date new pound location and building for our animal control staff and their charges.

Very truly yours,

L. Jane Calverley

6 Hopewell Road, Newtown                                     August 22, 2005