Protecting Pets

“Barking Up the Wrong Tree� (Commentary, June 22) includes comments on a recovery in the amount of $30,000 for the shooting of a dog by a security patrol company. As the attorney who handled that case, I must respond.

We all agree that, under law, animals are still regarded as property. Remember, so were certain ethnic groups, children and women. I am able to collect emotional distress damages without confronting the immorality of labeling animals as property. I look at the harm to the keepers of the animal and the damages to those persons. There is nothing new about that concept.

All lawsuits and damage recoveries have an impact, financial and otherwise. Especially of interest to me is the deterrent effect having to pay lots of money for injuring animals has on the forced protection and/or respect for them.

MICHAEL ROTSTEN

Encino