As ThinkProgress has been reporting all week, South Fulton Fire Department firefighters from Obion, Tennessee, stood by and watched as the Cranick family’s home burned down because their fire-fighting services were available on a subscription basis only, and the family had not paid the $75 fee. Immediately, right-wing writers at the conservative movement’s bulkhead magazine, The National Review, and conservative radio host Glenn Beck defended the county and argued that firefighting should not be a public service available to all, regardless of ability to pay.

The Cranicks revealed in an interview with MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann that they lost four pets in the fire “” three dogs and a cat.  TP has the story in a cross-post I’m filing under adaptation, again, because there’s a global warming lesson here somewhere”¦.

Now, the Human Society of the United States (HSUS) “” the 11 million member-strong organization dedicated to animal welfare “” has condemned the Obion County policy of only offering firefighting to rural residents through a subscription-based service. In their statement, the Humane Society writes that it’s “inexecusable that three dogs and a cat would have to die in such a horrible way, with firefighters ordered to not intervene, because of an unpaid $75 service fee“:

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