The Parrot Fund

This afternoon, Lucky Dog Rescue announced that they’ve started a fund in memory of Parrot, the shar-pei/pit bull mix that was shot and killed by a DC police officer yesterday.  An early posting said that the fund would go to rescuing more pit mixes and educating the community on the breed; currently it’s saying that it’ll go to giving more dogs safe homes in his honor.  Both are great reasons, and I will be donating.

After seeing more pictures of him and hearing him called a shar-pei mix, we realized that we didn’t just know him from the website, but we actually saw him at the Wags ‘N’ Whiskers festival two weeks ago.  Parrot was a very neat looking dog, and there were a number of other dogs around him—no inkling an incident could occur.  Parrot didn’t deserve this.

If there’s any good to come out of this, it’s that there are a ton of witnesses coming forward and very angry animal lovers that are taking action (including Philip Bump, a pit bull owner who kindly posted contact resources).  Letters have been sent to DC’s Mayor Fenty and police chief Cathy Lanier (who owns five rescue dogs herself)—including my own.  Lucky Dog knows that they and Parrot are loved and supported (they’ve also issued a statement/update on the situation and police report—I’d recommend reading it only if you’re either an emotionless robot or don’t care if you cry.  It’s distressing).  Hopefully Parrot's foster pop knows that many people have his back, too.  A blog was started for Parrot.  National news sources are picking up on his story.  And DCist, my favorite local blog, did what they do best in sad situations and posted a gorgeous picture of a dog named Oz to cheer everyone up.

The Washington Post had a wonderful picture of Parrot today that I wanted to share.  It's a priceless example of a dog and his boy.

[Source, courtesy of Aaron Block]

We cannot let this happen again.

Technorati Tags: Not on our watch.