With the ever so progressing country we live in, it is difficult to assort different values we hold into priorities. For instance, when a stray dog attacked a state animal control officer, a police officer from Dagsboro was forced to shoot at the animal. The reason for controversy comes from America’s deep rooted value of animals. In western ideology, many consider their dogs to carry as much worth as human beings, so it is may be controversial that the police officer shot the animal for the human’s life. However, it was deemed justified by the general public because of the danger the animal could have caused the victimized officer. When the other policemen tried to take the dog off the victim, the dog only further increased the aggression. If the dog was let alone, the animal control officer would have had his life taken. The Office of Animal Welfare proceeded to call 911 during the incident, reported chief of community relations for the Delaware Division of Public Health Andrea Wojcik. However, she also states that is difficult to work with these kind of situations because it is just so unpredictable. This is true, because there is always that communication barrier no matter how skilled someone can be with the matter. Because it can be unclear what the intent is and nearly impossible to make a compromise with an animal, it is challenging to act rightfully in terms of either shoot the dog or let the dog keep harming a person. Especially when these cases occur so quickly, it becomes a problem for the morale of America. As much as the human species would want to be connected to the animal kind, there is always a line that we cannot cross due to how we were made in nature. Nevertheless, we can only improve this situation by taking care of animals in the right way, because they deserve a chance at life just as ourselves. It is crucial that we are always evaluating and re-assessing our moral values we hold to be the truth for constantly changing culture.

<Jiseon Choi Granada Hills Charter High School 11th>