Spend a few months in this career, and you quickly learn an enduring truth about the American public: it cares way more about animals than people. Quadruple murder, who gives a shit? Bodies on the sidewalk…meh, keep walking. But, if a dog ever dies–with even the slightest hint of foul play–people go ballistic. Debates ensue. Accusations are hurled. Judgments are set in stone.

On that note, listserv e-mails have been pouring into my mailbox nonstop about the dog killed by an MPD officer on Christmas Eve. Fox 5 News originally reported the story on Dec. 26. As Amanda Hess wrote yesterday, “An internal investigation into the incident is pending: The officer claims Scooby lunged, while the dog’s owner says Scooby was sitting still.”

But, that was only the beginning.

A Police District 3 yahoo listserv writer kicked off the conversation with this post:

“The officer’s behavior indicative of recent pressure from within MPD to increase enforcement of leash laws in DC. This is the second time an officer has shot a dog under questionable circumstances, plus there have been senseless arrests of individuals walking their dogs off leash. However, killing a dog in such a manner is not only cruel, but inhumane. I hope the ASPCA or the American Humane Society will conduct their own investigations as to the officer’s actions, as I believe it will be more credible than any MPD internal investigation.”

Soon after came this post:

“I was and continue to be outraged at the situation… …I wonder why there have been no comments yet from [Assistant Chief of Police Diane Groomes]….. the owner of the dog (Scooby) and witnesses in the immediate area all say the same thing: the dog was not aggressive and wasn’t threatening the officer….. what a shame!”

Oh no you didn’t just pounce on Groomes! Ask for some of this woman’s attention and you’ll get a tidal wave of it. Since this e-mail, not one, not two, but seven e-mails from her have landed in my mailbox. Here’s the first:

“I posted this shooting on the 2d listserv since it occurred there…I would also like to correct the statement that we are “arresting” dog owners for unleashed dogs… a citizen is subject to a fine of $50.00 which they would pay at the Police Districts…. We do not arrest for this type of infraction…. We can query 2d and 3d on the number of citizens cited for this violation (CO SOLBERG and CO MCCOY –pls forward your statistics on citations issued for unleashed dog please for 2007 so we can get this out to the public.”

Back to some classic pet gifts. Here, Hammacher Schlemmer gives us two whoppers on the same page!

First you got the doggie water fountain, which is quite something. The innovation here is that when your doggie’s snout gets withint striking distance of the spout, out comes the water. How is this an improvement on the old, trusty water bowl? Well, let’s let Hammacher Schlemmer answer that one: “A built-in proximity sensor detects when your dog gets within 3′ and activates a constant stream of water that greatly reduces the risks of intestinal diseases commonly contracted from contaminated standing water.”

Note, too, that the device shuts down after four minutes, saving Rover from the threat of the dreaded canine hyponatremia.

If you and your dog are managing hydration issues competently, please see other ideas on this same H-S page, including a contraption called “The Safe Outdoor Playground for Pets.” The idea here, according to the promotional language, is that your indoor cat can enjoy the great outdoors with the assistance of this cage. And then there’s the double-decker cat stroller.

For the house that has everything, here’s a nice holiday wrinkle: “Xmas Toilet Tissue,” at just $3.50 a roll. Perhaps that’s what you need to pay to get every part of your into the season’sspirit. From a concern named Added Touch. I’ll say.

A day after I encouraged the folks at Post Mortem to get on the stick, Matt Schudel has a winner: a post about the notorious fight between the late Norman Mailer and Rip Torn on the set of the film Maidstone. Let’s go to the tape:

In case you missed the last report, there’s a fresh animal sighting in Takoma:

From a post last night:

earlier today, i walked out to the vacant lot behind my house, and to my surprise, saw a deer there - a buck in fact. first time in takoma! the animal looked frightened and not quite sure what to do. i can imagine it wandering around the streets, not sure how to get back to the park from which it no doubt came.

But it wasn’t the first time in Takoma, according to a response this morning:

If he was a fairly small buck, three to four feet high, he’s probably the one I saw a while ago in the yard next door, about ten feet from my window. That would mean he passed by the houses of lots of folks on this list, possibly strolling down 5th from Dahlia to Van Buren, or more likely through yards and alleys.

Anyway, drive carefully, a Montgomery County Council member was seriously injured when his car and a deer collided and the deer came through the window.

It’s true.

From a recent post to Takoma’s Yahoo! group:

I just saw a young deer in the yard next door (on Piney Branch between Dahlia and Blair), but he’s gone now. I imagine he came in from the alley off 7th Street. Looked like a young male (small, with antlers). Does one call somebody about a wandering deer after he has gone off?

I say let it slide. But what do you think? Anyone know what the protocol is on this one?