I feel so upset sometimes when I hear about an animal that was abused. It haunts me sometimes.

[Quantess]

A facebook acquaintance posted a photo of a dog that had it's face blown off by fireworks, and I couldn't help but see the awful photo. Some teenagers in Sarajevo had deliberately put a m-80 or something in a german shepherd's mouth and bound the dog's mouth shut so he couldn't spit it out. The poor dog had to be euthanized of course, because his entire snout was blown to bits.

I saw it last night (on facebook of all places, where I expect to see only cute or trivial animal photos) as I was winding down for bed. I had to watch some video clips to get my mind off it so I could sleep. But today, I'm still haunted by it. Whenever I see a dog I imagine what the dog would look like with half its face missing, and how painful it must have been before he finally had to be put down. It's afternoon now and I've been haunted by it all day.

I don't know if it's also because it's the seasonal depression time of year, which makes it more difficult to get my mind off of it. There is nothing I can do to prevent animal cruelty, which is very frustrating. But I also am having a hard time getting over it. There is no point in being sad over things I have no control over, but I feel horrible about it anyway.

[Scuba]

1. Any helpless person or creature. If it didn't bother you, it would be you who needed help.

[Quantess]

2. Sure, if they were in front of me and I could do something, anything at all.

But here I am feeling sad and it's pointless because I can't do anything.
I wish I could stop feeling depressed about things I can't do anything about. My mood can't "afford" to be obsessively sad over these things, as I have a tendency toward depression.

[Scuba]

4. I understand. I try to limit my exposure to such stuff, just as self-protection.

[kaitcat]

3. I hope you de-friended that acquaintance.

I tried to search for if anything happened to those kids by way of punishment, but I was afraid to open any of the resulting links for fear I'd be assaulted by that photo. I could barely handle looking that faceless cat -- who is alive and fine and works in hospitals to help people with horrible injuries -- so I know I wouldn't be able to un-see a picture of that poor dog. I think you're being too hard on yourself. Be proactive and make sure whoever exposed you to the picture is not a part of your web experience anymore.

[Quantess]

5. Mis-use of facebook. People shouldn't do that on facebook.

This lady is obsessed with dogs, missing & found dogs, etc. Maybe it's best to at least unsubscribe from seeing her stuff.

The article at the link said "share this on facebook!" There was a petition to sign, so that they would get some animal protection laws on the books in Sarajevo. Apparently there are no animal protection laws there.

Plus, I had just taken my neighbor's german shepherd for a walk yesterday, had taken a nice photo that I was going to put on facebook, and here was this sad german shepherd with half his face gone. Sucks.

[kaitcat]

6. Yeah, sucks.

If it's misuse, then you can report it, ask FB to remove it maybe.