Animal Abandonment, Do Not Discard After Use!

There is an alarming increase of animal cruelty and pet abandonment. In fact cruelty to animals is now so common place that there are even prime time TV programmes that follow some of the day-to-day business of animal welfare organizations.

Nowhere on any animal adoption form does it state, ‘Please discard, Neglect or abuse after use’. The vast majority of people will have a soft spot, or even adore any baby animal. Whether it be a puppy, kitten or wildlife creature, babies are innocent, cute and represent a need for care and vulnerability. Sadly enough, once they outgrow their cuteness or the novelty wears off they are often discarded like trash, along highways. Or as is frequently the case left behind in an empty house when the owner’s move.

The headlines of a local paper today once again revealed peoples capacity for cruelty.  Two Solvay women were charged with animal abuse. One, in her mid fifties for permitting the act of cruelty (a misdemeanor), and the other in her mid sixties, for carrying out an act of animal abandonment (another misdemeanor). They were observed stopping their car and placing a box very close to a busy highway. The box was discovered to contain a mature mother cat and a litter of kittens. Several motorists stopped and managed to rescue most of the kittens before the police arrived. Both the women concerned are to appear in court later this month.

Now even though it’s a disgusting cruel thing to do, in some cases it’s a catch twenty-two situation. The SPCA is a charitable organization. If you take your cat or a ‘stray’ cat to the SPCA for whatever reasons, you will be asked to pay a fee of $40. At least in this area that is the case. Or alternatively there is the Humane Society, who will take an animal off your hands free of charge. However you can sometimes be left as an impromptu ‘foster parent’ until space becomes available. Either option entails financial outlay, which frequently discourages many from this option and ends with the scenario we have described from the paper. Please understand that this is not a grouch about either organization, they both do incredible work for little or no praise.

A Dog (or cat, rat or hamster) is for life. NOT just for Christmas! Taking an animal into your home is a responsibility. They give you their trust, affection, loyalty, devotion, and above all love. They don’t understand when one day they are taken for a ride in the family car and dropped off on the roadside and have their collar removed. The last thing they see is the people they have given their life to disappearing in a cloud of exhaust smoke! Many years ago as a serving soldier, my husband had a pet dog that was actually a rescue animal. After several months of owning the dog he received orders to be posted to Cyprus in the Mediterranean. Many people, his father included advised re-homing the dog. Instead he showed the same loyalty and devotion to the dog that the dog gave him for many years and at great expense took the dog to Cyprus with him. Now we can say the same about our family dogs. A geriatric lab and an over enthusiastic boxer. The point I’m trying to make is, we took on the responsibility, for always, not just while it suited us.