| In early April, Philadelphia news reported that two men had walked into an animal shelter, and stolen a dog. A free dog. The shelter was of course mortified of such a crime, and posted a $1000 reward for return of the 'free dog'. Several months ago Whitey's Pub went to a South Jersey animal shelter to pick out a 'free cat' for adoption. After receiving vague information from the newspaper, bad directions from the shelter, and unable to speak to an actual human being on the telephone (to discuss the info and directions) we arrived, bright eyed and ready to adopt. We were the only potential parents in the office. We were surrounded by 10 workers of the state. 10. At least seven (7) of them were profoundly overweight women, discussing lunch plans (don't even get me started there). We waited. After ten minutes of watching our tax dollars at work, a woman finally asked if we needed help. We informed her that we'd like to see the kittens, and adopt one. We were taken to the back where the animals were, and checked them out. I stuck my finger in one cage to get a feel for one potential candidate, but was told that I wasn't allowed to touch them until we were 'approved'. Shortly thereafter, we went back into the office to fill out the paperwork to adopt a kitten we saw earlier in the day. Walk in with no cat, walk out with cat. The same aook us under some bright lights in another room and began to question our application. We had to qualify. She was concerned that we had a five year old son, and a fifteen year old dog. Her brow did unhappy things. When we indicated that our indoor kitty-to-be would be declawed, our chance to adopt all but ended. The serman began. "It's not good for the cats" (and sitting in an iron cage in your own feces is), and "you wouldn't put your son to sleep if you didn't have to, would you?" (he is not sitting in an iron cage in his own feces). She made it sound like we weren't worthy of a free cat. All we had planned to do was give this cat three squares a day for the next twenty years, and permission to sleep on everything we own. We thanked her, gave back the application and left. My issues: 1. Tax payers are WAY getting shafted out of their money by having fat ladies do nothing to help pets find owners. 2. The fat ladies know if they do nothing to help pets find owners, and thus keep their cages full of animals, they will have jobs forever. 3. Shelters should hire staff directly from car dealerships. I'd like to hear someone say to me, "what's it gonna take for me to put you in a cat today?!". They make it so frustrating and difficult to adopt, that we will always have an overpopulation problem with animals. 4. Qualify for a free cat? I can pick up the telephone and borrow a quarter of a million dollars for a new home in ten minutes, I can't instantly qualify for a free cat? I can go to a store, plunk down some cash, and walk out with a cat. Are those cats not as good? Getting back to the news story from the beginning. I applaud whomever the suspects are in that 'crime'. One less pet sitting in a cage. A call to action to the fat ladies to get off their asses and pay attention to people on their grounds. Let's all hope they get away with this streamlined adoption- and if not, it just cost us taxpayers another $1000. |
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| Five year old (CJ) and Puddi seem to get along just fine. |
| Fifteen yar old dog (Gus) and free cat don't seem to have any issues. |
| Screw the ASPCA, we got a free cat from a friend of a friend (in the same day too)! |