Yesterday on my way to pick up some lunch in the neighborhood I passed by one of the most disturbing thing’s I’ve ever seen. In the middle of the sidewalk, not more than a few paces from children playing in the street and their parents sitting on stoops watching them, was the rotting carcass of what was most likely a dog. I almost passed it without even realizing that it used to be a living creature, a sure sign I’ve grown a bit too accustomed to seeing garbage and filth line Bushwick’s streets. But it caught my eye nonetheless and I slowed to try to understand the whole situation of the animal being here and the people being here and the conscious decision made by everyone who passed it to leave it there for the flies.
I didn’t have my camera with me at the time, but I came back to the scene a few hours later. This time there were not so many people on the block, just two men standing next to a nearby car. I spent about 15 minutes trying to photograph the dog and half way through one of the men leaned out from behind the car and called out to me,
“Smells pretty bad doesn’t it?”
The smell was unbearable and the reason I didn’t take any photos in color. After I left I felt ill for at least another half hour. The whole scene and attitude of the people and thought of this now unrecognizable creature was disturbing in a way that left me saddened but mostly filled with frustration towards the carelessness of the society I’m living in and the lack of respect that is awarded to other living, and dying, creatures
UPDATE:
This morning as I walked to work I called 311 and told them about the dog. They are sending the Dept of Sanitation’s dead animal clean up crew to take care of it. And it didn’t cost me a thing.