Recently, Sarah Palin has come under fire from animal welfare advocates for posting three (yes, three) photos on her Facebook page featuring her son Trig perched upon the family’s black Labrador Retriever, Jill, to get a boost while reaching for the kitchen countertop. Along with the photo, Palin shared the following words of inspiration:
Happy New Year!
- Sarah Palin
PETA issued a Response to Sarah Palin’s Facebook Post of Son Stepping on Family Dog stating:
It’s odd that anyone—let alone a mother—would find it appropriate to post such a thing, with no apparent sympathy for the dog in the photo. Then again, PETA, along with everyone else, is used to the hard-hearted, seeming obliviousness of this bizarrely callous woman, who actually thought it appropriate to be filmed while turkeys were being slaughtered right behind her in full view of the camera.
Palin then responded to PETA through another Facebook post with the first line reading “Chill. At least Trig didn’t eat the dog” which is a direct reference to President Obama’s admission of eating dog meat as a child when he lived in Indonesia. This comparison is moot to Ms. Palin’s defense, as Obama (like Trig), wasn’t fully in control of the circumstances and was only eating the food provided by his parents that was available and acceptable in the country in which he was living at the time.
Our pets, including Trig’s best buddy Jill Hadassah, are loved, spoiled and cared for more than some people care for their fellow man whose politics may not mesh with nonsensical liberally failed ways or don’t fit your flighty standards.
Jill is a precious part of our world. So is Trig.
- Sarah Palin
PETA simply believes that people shouldn’t step on dogs, and judging by the reaction that we’ve seen to Sarah Palin’s Instagram photo, we’re far from alone in that belief. Palin’s Facebook response shows us that she knows PETA about as well as she knows geography. Yes, we campaign against the Iditarod because when the dogs aren’t being driven—sometimes to death—most live chained or inside cages for their entire lives. And we’re a vegan organization, so we sit on pleather couches, wear stylish vegan kicks, and consider fish friends, not food. (Also, by the way, we just sent a case of vegan caviar to Vladimir Putin—and no, you can’t see his house from yours, Ms. Palin.) We have no reason to believe that the Palin companion animals aren’t ordinarily pampered, and we wish the entire family a peaceful and humane 2015.
Standing on a dog’s back is never a good thing, no matter what the size of the dog or the person! Direct, excessive pressure can cause a myriad of issues including: fracture of a rib with possible lung puncture and internal organ damage sprain of the joint between the rib and the vertebra preventing the dog from taking a deep breath without pain damage to the scapula or shoulder blade interfering with forward movement of the upper limbs, with resulting inability to jump, walk or run nerve damage to the spine causing weakness, pain, loss of balance and proprioception, which is the ability to feel the ground
disc herniation of the thoracic and or cervical spine
Any of these injuries can take weeks or months of chiropractic care and physical rehabilitation or surgery. Depending on the extent of the damage, the resulting effects may be permanent.