For every one who chimes in the shares of frightened "found as stray animals" with comments such as "someone do something!!" you should know the truth is that many of them are never claimed. An awfully high number of the animals which are found roaming loose are indeed what our society has begun to view as disposable "things". For a multitude of reasons, lifestyle changes, moves, personal issues and behavior situations, countless numbers of animals are "rehomed" over and over again with their final stop often in an animal control facility. IT'S NOT THE FAULT OF THE AGENCY.
The reality is that when the public blames the shelters, shelter workers, volunteers, staff members, facilities and so on, that's nothing more than a neat way of shifting blame onto someone else. Truth is, if you ever allowed your animals to run wild unfixed, not spayed or neutered, you contributed to this problem of animals being euthanized every single day of every week in buildings all across the country.
If you ever decided to let your designer dog "sow it's oats" without paying much attention to if or how many additional dogs it created, this situation is your fault.
If you felt that a cat was better "out in the wild" and never worried about how many litters they may be producing, if you bred mixed breeds carelessly so you could create a new "designer dog" named a combination of several existing breeds, the fact that we have to euthanize pets daily in this country is on you.
If you failed to train your dog how to live in harmony with other animals, small children, cats or other members of a household and then one day decided it was unmanageable and took the dog to a shelter because it "didn't get along with people" you may have been the one that issued a death sentence. I'm not saying every rescue dog that comes with issues can be cured or retrained, but when you start out with a puppy who's actions are "so cute" and it becomes "too much trouble to take to obedience classes", the danger that comes later on might be what you created.
It is not the shelter's fault nor the people who try endlessly to help one more dog, another old cat that was dumped. I have spoken to animal control officers who had tears in their eyes over situations which had taken place - they are human - just like you and I, and they do NOT exist to put animals to sleep. There is sometimes NO OTHER CHOICE.
A few years ago I set out hoping to help educate owners on how to constructively search for their lost pet in order to find it as quickly as possible. Nowadays we have people who's animals are missing for days, weeks, months and yet never bother to follow the steps needed to recover them - and that's not the worst of it. The worst is learning about so many dogs and cats being found in poor health, extremely old and sick animals. We've started to wonder if more people are simply dumping their elderly or ill pets, hoping they will pass away or that someone else will take them in - these are not isolated incidents anymore but commonplace. This article uncorked a pain inside of me that's been building as I've watched the numbers of unwanted animals rise - seeing the misplaced blame from individuals seeking someone to point fingers at - along with our society's widespread failure to take responsibility is a cruel and savage reality that goes well beyond heart wrenching.
Established in 2011 to serve the Delmarva Peninsula, we now cover the
areas of Sussex County, DE and the Lower Eastern Shore of Maryland
