Noise sensitive Manhattanites getting dogs’ vocal cords disabled
Here’s another postcard from the alternate dimension that is Manhattan: a growing number of dog-owners who live in co-ops and apartment buildings are getting their pets’ vocal cords cut by veterinary surgeons, in many cases responding to noise complaints from their neighbours. Needless to say, this has stirred opposition among animal rights advocates. The procedure isn’t new, but the demand for quiet among well-heeled co-op owners is on the rise. You shell out a couple million for a flat, one assumes, and you expect a certain amount of peace and quiet. Moreover, bourgeois apartment dwellers aren’t the only ones getting their canines silenced. It turns out drug dealers like their attack dogs to be seen and not heard as well.