
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, March 30, 1990                   TAG: 9003300779
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A10   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

ACTS ON BEHALF OF ISAAC ARE DEFENDED

THE LETTER March 16 by W.L. Linkous, former owner of Isaac the calf, which attacked not only the action of the Montgomery County Humane Society with regard to Isaac but also the Humane Society in general, was unfair and insulting.

The Humane Society purchased Isaac at market value after more than 40 people had called about the crippled calf spending most of its life lying in its own feces, with infections on its legs and frostbitten ears. Linkous' suggestion that the society took Isaac from a caring owner and treated him as a freak is ludicrous. Isaac received the best possible care at the Virginia Tech School of Veterinary Medicine and was subsequently adopted by a capable person with years of experience handling farm animals.

Alluding to Ed Shamy's article detailing the society's current indebtedness, Linkous suggested that the financial bonanza Isaac and his story provided the society was short-lived "because it was based on greed and emotion." He is correct about one thing: The suffering of animals touches the emotions of our members, and we do what we can to alleviate that suffering wherever we find it. Our concern for animals and our efforts to help them are altogether honorable and should be applauded, not criticized.

Linkous' assertion that the Humane Society acted for Isaac out of greed is scandalous. All members of the society are volunteers who give their time freely - without any financial compensation - to help animals in immediate trouble and to improve and protect the rights of all animals. Many times we reach into our own pockets to help pay expenses. Emotional we are, to the extent that we display the emotion of compassion in our work for animals. Greedy we most certainly are not.

It is impossible to determine what faulty leap of logic Linkous makes to conclude that the society should "fold up" because of its actions in behalf of Isaac the calf. The society helped some 1,200 animals this past year, not one of which, I venture, would be likely to endorse Linkous' conclusion. We did what we could to help Isaac, we do what we can to rescue or assist every animal in distress whose plight comes to our attention, and we "agitate" just as few people as possible along the way.\ CAROL HOGE\ President, Montgomery County Humane Society\ BLACKSBURG

by CNB