As journalists, we learn that regardless of how cut and dried a story initially seems - despite the obvious guilt of one side and obvious innocent of the other - there's always two sides to a story.
A good reporter will recognize this from the beginning, and seek out the other side to give readers a true picture of what's happening. By the time the story hits print, a reporters' stories often change as they gather new information.
The public, as well, should be open-minded when hearing initial one-sided allegations, especially with the advent of the internet and social media. A healthy dose of skepticism along with some fact-finding from the other side goes a long way toward an objective assessment.
A recent incident involving the Jefferson City Animal Shelter is a good illustration.
In the local Facebook group, "Jefferson City, MO Lost & Found Paws," a woman posted that she found a dog on June 4 and took it to the shelter the next day. She said the dog was euthanized nine days later.
According to the petition, the family of the dog contacted the animal shelter but was told there was not a dog matching the description.
The community was outraged. A petition started, calling for the shelter director and other employees there to be repositioned. More than 3,400 people signed the online petition.
But wait. As the late broadcaster Paul Harvey was famous for saying: "Now, the rest of the story."
City officials said the dog had a collar, but no identification and no microchip. It was overly aggressive and not adoptable. The shelter policies state that it can euthanize unclaimed stray animals after five days, but it waited nine days in this case. (If an owner is located, they have 10 days to pick up their pets.)
The Jefferson City Animal Shelter is not a "no-kill shelter," and having such a city-run shelter is not practical financially or legally.
Anyone who has talked to the staff or volunteers at the shelter can vouch for their love of animals. No one there enjoys putting down an animal; it's a tough, but necessary, part of the job.
What's sad is that the whole ordeal could have been easily prevented if the dog was kept on the owner's property or on a leash, as required by city ordinance.
Occasionally, a pet may still get away, through no fault of its owner. That's where microchips serve as safety nets.
Microchipping pets isn't mandatory, but it's a good idea. When the shelter takes in a stray animal, one of the first thing employees do is scan the pet, hoping to get the owner's contact information.
We're confident the dog in question would still be alive today if it had been kept confined or microchipped.