Maybe People Should Be Spayed and Neutered Rather Than Cats and Dogs.
Posted: Thursday, February 12, 2009
by Mike Fak
http://mikefak.com
I just finished up an article for the paper titled The Rescuers'. It is about two women who have changed the local animal control shelter from being a Hotel California, where animals check in but they never leave, into a near no-kill center.
The amount of work they do is enormous. They take cats and dogs out of the local facility and transport them all over a three-state-area in order to get them to shelters or rescue stations that are no-kill and have a solid track record of animal placement.
A great deal of the dogs and cats that end up in shelters everywhere are because of failures of owners to accept the obligations they face when taking in a dog or cat. People get dogs when they have absolutely no time to care for them. So the dog lives outside in the elements and takes off or digs under a fence and wanders the streets until they finally get caught. The dogs are held waiting for an owner to call and claim them but most of the time the owner never does.
Many of the cats that are caught really don't have a home. The people get the cat and then leave it outside all the time, which means it either gets killed by the dogs the other owners didn't watch or it becomes pregnant and brings more poor animals into a world that doesn't want them.
When the cats are born and raised in the wild, few of them ever can be adopted as feral cats just don't take to human beings, even ones with half a brain.
I was shocked at how cheap it is around here to get a dog or cat fixed: about a hundred dollars. I was also shocked by how many animals were turned in to the shelter by owners who found out after the fact that they don't have the time or the means to be responsible pet owners. You would think people would think it all out before bringing home a pet, but like so many things, we just don't think at all.
And so we end up with a world of dogs and cats that in many cases would give anything to be a part of a loving family but because of their sheer numbers spend their lives in cages until they are killed.
There can be no blame to the animals for multiplying. We can't seem to get a lock on that situation ourselves as we find more and more teenaged unwed mothers having multiple babies that they can't take care of so we must. Perhaps the lack of responsibility in bringing offspring into the world by dogs and cats isn't a result of genetics but of just watching how we supposedly superior thinking beings act ourselves.
Now I'm certain that there are those of you who think that cats and dogs are of no concern to you: that they are just animals and you being a superior intelligence don't need to spend a moment of concern towards them.
Remember that those who are superior have an obligation to those who are less. Otherwise, we are just uncaring fools disregarding another part of a planet we have been entrusted with taking care of. And there is nothing superior in that.
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Top-level comments on this article: (6 total)Mike, congratulations on your readership at SearchWarp! It comes as no surprise with your talent, sense of humor and kindness. You make time for us and that's admirable.
Thanks for speaking out for animals and putting people in our place. The idea is food for thought. Much more than kibbles 'n bits, too! Be well and give my regards to the Governor, please?Thanks Avis. I'm not sure when I will bump into him but when I do I will give him your regards.Mike
Hi Mike.Congrats! And thanks for another great article.DianneThank you for reading Dianne. No matter what the number it is always one at a time.ThanksMike
My teenage daughter has been pestering her mom and me to get a dog, but I've been telling her we need to wait until we have time to care for a dog. I'm thinking about having my daughter read your article, though we'll have to negotiate the price on her doing that. Thanks for the write. ~mogama~Yeh Mogama, if I was a youngster, you would have to pay me serious money to read anything I write.ThanksMike
Mike, I've been saying for years that we need to take some people out of the gene pool. Your article is a great reminder that it still needs to happen. Now where are my scissors????Thanks Danny. I too think a lot of things need to be fixed in this world including people. But a scissors? Yeouch!Mike
Mike,Excellent article. My heart breaks for all the uncared-for animals and how they are treated ,especially those in the puppy mills.The woman who had the 8 babies should never have been inpregnated. Not only do I question her common sense in making such an unwise choice, but I question what doctor in good conscience would agree to such a procedure?For how intelligent we are as a people, it is sad to see how little of it is used by so many.NancyThanks Nancy . Yes the octuplets story is troubling. Fourteen little ones and she says she is going back to school? A very sad case of craziness meeting up with incompetence, and we will pay for it.Mike
Thank you for your share. We have a couple of ladies in our area that do great work in saving animals. I admire them greatly. The octuplets and their mother, well that's another story.LindaThanks Linda. Yep, the octuplets is another story...or perhaps eight other storiesMike
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