Was I being unreasonable to have an argument with a street beggar?
We were on holiday to Rhodes and visited Rhodes old town one evening with the children.
I had read a campaign in our hotel lobby from a local animal welfare charity, that was informing tourists not to give money to beggars with puppies. As they are taken from their mothers too early and are drugged to keep them quiet, all to gain sympathy for money.
They work as gangs and once the puppies have served their purpose they are killed, they are given no water and left with the beggar in the heat for long periods of time - not to mention the drugs they are given to keep them sleepy.
I was distressed to read this and we encountered a street beggar almost immediately on our evening out.
She was only a young girl (13 at a guess) and had a tiny black pup, asleep next to her.
I couldn't help but feel outraged, should I have turned my head and walked on?
I asked her where the pup's mother was, where was it's water/milk/food? How come the pup was fast asleep and couldn't be roused?
She looked at me blankly, so I informed the tourists around us not to give her any money and suddenly she understands english and begins swearing at me and giving me hand gestures of the "fuck off" variety.
Well then I saw red and an argument followed with lots of swearing and shouting, I am ashamed of myself but as an animal lover I couldn't contain myself.
We informed a policeman and she ran with the poor puppy under her arm.
My husband had taken the children away from the situation before it became heated, but was annoyed with me for causing a scene.
So was I being unreasonable?