Chilkat Valley News - Serving Haines and Klukwan, Alaska since 1966

I was extremely interested about the outcome of the McEwen case, but disappointed that the 60-day jail sentence was suspended. I just got a sticker from the Animal Legal Defense Fund which states, “Abuse an animal… go to jail.”

Obviously, this legislation hasn’t been enacted in Alaska yet, but hopefully it will be at some time in the future. If police officer Cassandra McEwen had received some time behind bars, it would have sent a strong message to Haines residents that abusing animals is a medieval practice that enlightened, modern-day people do not overlook.

I am heartsick to think what those defenseless horses went through, without food or water, living in filthy stalls this winter, because their owner had emotional problems. Any study of criminal behavior unearths evidence that psychopaths mistreat animals.

Gabrielle LoGuidice