DIESEL: Four Days to Kill a Dog "On the Balance of Probabilities"
The Story of a Trial Process
On March 11, 2011, a SWAT team of two Animal Control Officers and two RCMP officers came to Dave Smith's home with a warrant to seize his dog, Diesel.
Mr. Smith was shattered but, being law-abiding, he surrendered his dog. Diesel cried as he was hustled away.
Dave Smith refused to let Dog Control label and euthanize Diesel as a dangerous dog. He knew Diesel was not dangerous.
By June 18, 2012, when the trial seeking Diesel's death began, Diesel had been confined in a 4'x8' cell for 15 months. He was in the cell for 23.5 hours a day and was given two 15 minute breaks in a gravel yard.
This tragic story is not a work of fiction. It happened in Kelowna, BC, Canada.
About the Author
Helen Schiele has lived in Kelowna, BC since 2001. In 1970, she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Sir George Williams University in Montreal.
Her interests range from nature to the fine arts. She is detail-oriented, and she abhors cruelty. Since the age of seven, she has rescued thousands of earthworms from drowning in puddles after a rainfall or dying on a hot pavement.
Schiele has also lived in Etobicoke and Oakville, Ontario; Montreal and Pointe Claire, Quebec; Goppingen, Heilbronn, and Leipzig, Germany; and Lwow (now Lviv, Ukraine).
She wrote DIESEL: Four Days to Kill a Dog for the sake of justice.