My sister’s 3 year old Corgie passed away two days ago. Her name was Lucy, She had a cocked-ear, bright blue eyes, and a peppered coat. She was one of the sweetest dogs I’ve ever met.

The dog was usually in her crate when my sister left, but recently began experimenting, letting Lucy out to roam the house for periods of time. All was going well, so the trend continued.

Two days ago, knowing that she would be gone for an extended period of time, she left the crate open for Lucy. Somehow, and this is quite a feat for a small dog with nearly non-existent legs, she got into a closed garbage can, and fished out a small snack bag where she proceeded to get it caught on her face.

She suffocated underneath the living room table where my sister’s 11, 8, and 4 year old found her.

The family jumped bag into the van, rushed to vet, my older niece holding the dog all the way begging her not to die. The vet took the dog from them, consulted with my sister, and they decided to tell the kids that Lucy was “very ill” and that a she should be given a shot to put her to sleep.

I didn’t get it at first, but then it occurred to me: they were trying to give the kids some control back over a situation. The kids agreed, and Lucy, already a few hours passed, was “put to sleep”.

The kicker of it was that the bag Lucy caught on her face was random garbage someone left on my sister’s lawn. I’ve encountered this personally, where someone leaves a half-eaten chocolate bar on my grass where Puppy Dog gets at it requiring an emergency vet situation. The point being, this isn’t a random event. I am pressed to know any friends with pets who haven’t experienced a similar situation where one person’s garbage becomes another person’s pet killer.

And in the larger context, this happens every damn day. Someone can’t be bothered to carry their trash until such time it can be properly disposed of. It ends up in our streets, storm sewers, the ravine down alongside my house-holy crap there’s a lot down there, where it poisons fish, chokes birds, and pollutes our water.

And maybe we care less about the fish and birds because they don’t cuddle with us on the couch, but I am damned if I understand what possesses people to behave this way. Because at the end of the day, it comes back to us all, instant Karma style.

I’m pained for my sister. She feels terrifically guilty. She needs a hug but she’s on the side of the country. And as I listened to her on the phone, crying over her family’s loss, I can tell she is outside, keeping the conversation away from the kids…and probably still picking up more of someone else’s garbage.