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Frankly, I'm sick of it. Not of the dogs, but of the people that decide to abandon them on our road simply because not many people live on it. This month alone we've had about 5 dogs dropped off by our house.
Most of them are not aggressive, thank goodness, and like to come by sometimes when our dogs are out to play. The ones that are aggressive though absolutely LOVE to destroy yards and kill livestock. That bothers me a bit, but doesn't make me angry since I know the destruction they cause can be fixed most of the time.
What pisses me off though is that someone decided that it would be wonderful to leave a saint bernard puppy at the end of our drive-way, one that hasn't even been weaned yet, on Christmas Eve. By the time I found him, he was covered in fire-ant bites and could barely stand.
This was yesterday. Since then, we've deemed him 'Santa' and he seems like one happy puppy. We also gave him some de-wormer, and, let me tell you, it is the worst case of worms I've ever seen. Hopefully, he'll get better soon.
I know you are angry...I've been there many times! I don't know how so many people can lack compassion and kindness. At least take the animal to a shelter where it "may" have a chance to get adopted or humanely put to sleep...these options are so much better than being dumped. You are at the right place to vent and get advice from good company. Do you have any connections to folks with rescue? Any good low cost spay and neuter clinics or resources close to you.
We were on a bad stretch of strays for a while we began to wonder if there was some sort of underground tunnel to our house where animals in need could come to our house. Or did our house have a safe and loving aura that attracted the unwanted, lost or scared. We try not to tell any of our neighbors or many people about our rescuing because we don't want to encourage dumps at our house via way of gossiping mouths.
i suspect that there is some sort of sign.... not visible to humans, but neon to abandoned animals.... in some of our yards..... i am in a very large subdivision in a FAR southern suburb of st. louis and am sheltering the 5th animal dumped or abandoned.... that i have been able to catch.... in the 7 years i have been here.....
certainly NOTHING like what you deal with, but i do empathize with your situation ..... and am completely disgusted by people who dump their living, feeling, breathing, sentinent "problems" out for those with more compassion and sense to take care of ....
@Amazonchix: Exactly! At least take the animal to a shelter; although, the people that dropped the puppy off wouldn't have been able to do that, since Santa is probably only a couple of weeks old. And, no, my family and I don't have any connections with any animal rescue centers. We do plan on bringing him to the vet to get him fixed once he's older (:
@latetotheparty: I completely agree with you. People just don't realize that animals have emotions too.
@Amazonchix: Exactly! At least take the animal to a shelter; although, the people that dropped the puppy off wouldn't have been able to do that, since Santa is probably only a couple of weeks old. And, no, my family and I don't have any connections with any animal rescue centers. We do plan on bringing him to the vet to get him fixed once he's older (:
@latetotheparty: I completely agree with you. People just don't realize that animals have emotions too.
And thank you both very much (:
(Now 7 dogs and counting within the family)
I've got nothing helpful to add but would like to thank you for the kindness you've shown to Santa. The world needs more people willing to do what you're doing.
I don't know where you live in relation to a large city. I would suggest you and your family start by talking to your vet for reliable rescues that you all could hook up for. Many times around where I live, I can get our strays into their adoption program as long as we continue to foster the stray and have it vetted. With that being said, what is the biggest city or town around you all? Many of us are familiar with low cost spay/neuter resources nationally. I know where I live, although we are above the income requirements for low cost s/n, we still qualify because we are fostering the dog/cat and not keeping it. We did end up keeping one of our fosters (a foster failure) but we ended up donating the difference to the low cost s/n between what we paid to the low cost s/n clinic and what our vet would have charged us.
If you all have any questions, please ask the folks on this forum. You'll eventually have to get these animals placed some where else or else you all are going to be a true sanctuary, lol!
I used to think as you do, until I picked up my now almost 2 year old dog when he was a 10 week old puppy, tied to a tree in the middle of the city. I don't know for sure, but if I was a betting person, I would wager that he was left there, in a high-traffic area, to be found by someone.
It doesn't make it any better to leave a dog, for sure, but I have come to understand what may be the mentality behind those who would dump a dog, whether at a shelter or on the street. The shelters in my area are high-kill. Budgets and otherwise...it just has to be so. I don't know who had my dog before I did, but I imagine that they took some time to think of where the best place would be to leave this puppy. Even if I couldn't have taken him, at least I, and I'm sure loads of other passersby, would take the time to make sure that this little guy was taken care of.
At the risk of being labelled a Pollyanna when it comes to this, I will offer the idea that when (most) people have a dog or other animal that they cannot take care of, that they do what they think is best for the animal at the time. Granted, some of us may not agree with their decision, but I really don't think that we should, as a group of animal lovers and rescuers, label everyone who dumps their animals with such a broad stroke.
Now that you have them, I would agree with others in that you should get in touch with those on this board who have gotten involved in rescue to get some resources.
I do understand your frustration, and I personally could never abandon my animals, but I also am loathe to vilify those who would, not knowing their full story.
Best of luck to you, and thanks for taking such good care of these animals.
I agree with mishigas. I think most people are doing what they think is the best thing. One thing to keep in mind, not everyone agrees with euthanization, and that it is better to die naturally after a fighting chance.
I personally agree with euthanizing, but it isn't worth having hate grow inside you just because others think differently.
i GET that people are going through hard times these days.... heck, i have been, too.... but if they think that dumping a dog or cat off somewhere to give it a "fighting chance," is the right thing to do, then they have NO CLUE what that pet is REALLY going to face ... starvation, attack by wild animals (raccoons, coyotes, etc., just in my neighborhood) .... being struck by a car, being picked up by the "wrong" sort of person.... the list goes on and on....
euthanasia would be a far far better fate than most of them face.....
i GET that people are going through hard times these days.... heck, i have been, too.... but if they think that dumping a dog or cat off somewhere to give it a "fighting chance," is the right thing to do, then they have NO CLUE what that pet is REALLY going to face ... starvation, attack by wild animals (raccoons, coyotes, etc., just in my neighborhood) .... being struck by a car, being picked up by the "wrong" sort of person.... the list goes on and on....
euthanasia would be a far far better fate than most of them face.....
I agree completely with LTTP.
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Hopefully, he'll get better soon.
