December 21, 2007
Late fall season.
Winds from the S at 5mph. Temperature 15 degrees.
Burn duration: Appx. 2 hours. One of at least 4 during daylight hours that day.

Anyone can see this is an inhumane way to treat a caged animal. This poor little dog was kenneled just feet from the outdoor wood boiler. I find this video sad and somewhat disturbing, seeing a family pet exposed to this. Day after day it sat in the direct stream of smoke, for several years until it died. Even more disturbing, the dog was within full view of the OWB while it was being tended to.

When stoking the OWB, it would be virtually impossible not to see the smoke blowing directly into the dog's kennel, day after day, and see the dog had no way to avoid it. It also would be virtually impossible not to have heard the dog yelping in distress day after day as he breathed in choking clouds of smoke in his kennel. I have videos taken from over 300 feet away and on multiple occasions the dog can clearly be heard in the background in distress while the smoke fills his kennel.

We see what happened to the dog as a minature version of what is happening to us and others in the neighborhood. As with the caged dog, it's virtually impossible for the OWB owner not to see the smoke streaming day after day onto our properties and at our homes. And like the yelping dog in distress, we have voiced our concerns to the OWB owner, to the City Council, and City Administration.

No one cared whether the dog had a basic right to a supply of breathable air. Will anyone care whether we do?

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