Mahatma Ghandi once said, "The greatness of a nation can be judged by the way its animals are treated."

I hate to say this, but we are sorely lacking when it comes to man and woman’s best friend, our canine companions.

Nothing gets me riled up more than to hear about cases of abuse against the elderly, children and animals.

Today I’m going to write about the animal abuse cases I’ve covered over the years, hopefully to bring light to the fact it’s happening in our community more often than we would like to believe.

Recently a malnourished mixed-breed dog was found in Hinesville. It is believed the dog was intentionally starved for a reason known only to God and his tormentor.

Luckily for this sad eyed puppy a Hinesville police officer was called to investigate and as usual no one in the neighborhood was able to tell the officer who it belonged to. The dog was taken to the Liberty County Humane Shelter where he was taken by Carpathia Paws and is being nursed back to health.

Another case of abuse went on for months in the east end of Liberty County, when a pit bull was tied up outside a residence without food and water.

Once again, when Carpathia Paws learned of this act of cruelty they went to authorities and had the dog rescued.

After months of rehabilitation, the dog, later named Dusk, was placed in the Battle Buddies program, an organization that pairs dogs with veterans and active duty soldiers to help combat the effects of PTSD. Dusk now lives comfortably on Fort Stewart with Chris Rider and his family and recently graduated from the Battle Buddies training program.

Then there was Juicy, a mixed breed dog left locked in a Hinesville home for about a month to die by a Fort Stewart soldier who didn’t feel it was necessary to drop her off at the humane shelter.

Juicy was skin and bones when she was found and is believed to have survived by drinking toilet water. Juicy’s story ended happily when she was adopted by an Effingham County family. She has the run of the place.

A lot of stories don’t have a happy ending.

Someone is reportedly beating cats to death in Savannah and leaving their battered bodies on subdivision lawns.

I once was told by a Liberty County Animal Control Officer the public has no idea the number abuse cases they handle annually.

We as a community can do better than this by using the adage, see something, say something.

Abuse in our community, whether it’s of children, the elderly or animals, should not be tolerated.

For every case of abuse reported, there are dozens that fly under the radar, so let’s be a voice for those without a voice.

We as a community can do better and teach a nation that a community is judged not by the cases of abuse reported, but preventing abuse by simply caring.