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I would like to share several personal experiences I have had in an effort to illustrate the suffering many animals live by our hands. I feel that public awareness, through education, is important in the fight against animal cruelty and by sharing these experiences I hope to do just that, help people become more aware of the horrors animals live by our hands. We became responsible for the welfare of animals when God gave us dominion over them. It is sad how little we have done to insure their well-being, let alone how criminal we have become as a source of thier suffering. When my husband and I were first married and moved to "the country", we would have to carry our own trash a couple of miles down the road to a rural dumpster. There were many times I would come home with a litter of puppies or kittens someone would have left at the site. It is hard for me to believe that people would actually do something like this, leave helpless creatures to wander into the road and get hit by cars, starve to death, or fall prey to some other animal. At one time we were caring for 18 dogs and 15 cats, trying to find homes for them all. This was financialy taxing trying to keep up with all the vaccines, vet bills, and food, but we did what we could to care for them. Finally we found homes for all but 2 dogs and a cat which we kept as part of our family. Eventually they started garbage service in our area and removed the dumpsters. I would still check the area to see if any animals were dropped, none were. This made me feel good, not seeing this kind of abuse, but I wondered where were they being dumped now. Through the years in our area neighbors would complain about dog knapping. The rumor was that dogs would be stolen from their homes to be used to train dogs to fight. We always kept our pets indoors when we were not home because if the rumors were true I did not want my dogs taken. Indeed in the 20 some odd years we have lived in this area I know of 2 dog fighting rings that have been broken up. The latest one only 2 months ago. I can only imagine how many go on without our knowledge. Several years ago my husband noticed a dog wandering one of the roads where we live. The next day he saw this same dog in the same area. He came home to pick up some dog food and went back out to investigate. The dog was a female and had given birth to a litter in a storm drain. The puppies were to young to come out and my husband could not fit to get them. Each day on the way to work he fed the mother and checked on the puppies. When the puppies finally wandered out he collected them and found homes for each. Unfortunately we were not able to get the mother that day and have not seen her since. Many people hunt in this area, using dogs to drive deer and all too often we will see these dogs wandering the roads, left behind by thier "master" who grew tired of waiting for them to return. Over the years we have brought quite a few rabbits into our home, all were examples of "throw aways". One found abandoned in the parking lot where a pet shop where I suspect it was purchased, recently closed. I imagine they meant to return it and when they found that the store had moved they just left it in the parking lot with a carrot. Two others came from homes that no longer wanted to take the time to care for them, at least they took the time to look for a new home for them, and one found wandering a neighborhood. These are only a few of the stories I have personally experienced. There are many more but those do not have happy endings. I thought about posting these also but decided against it because they are just too heartbreaking for the more sensative, including me. What have these experiences shown me? Not all people keep pets for companionship. There are many cruel people who view animals as property to be discarded if they become an inconvenience. Some even view animals as worth little more than trash to be thrown out. It is truly amazing to me that we can treat God's creatures this way. What I hope to accomplish with this page is to show the importance of keeping unwanted puppies and kittens from being born to a life of abuse and neglect. And to help find ways to prevent suffering of the innocent. Spay/Neutering could prevent so many heartbreaking stories, put an end to suffering before it begins and allow time, energy and resources to be directed to other areas of compassion. A Free Spay and Nueter program would be a wonderful solution to keeping the number of unwanted animals' needless suffering down. It is important that we all work together to help pass a Free Spay and Neuter program. You can start here by clicking ont he banner below and sign the petition already drawn up for your convenience.
 Until a program like this is passed it is the responsibility of pet owners to find the funds and time to do this for our pets. This means do not bring a pet into the home on a whim without thinking first about how many pets you can afford to care for not only financially but also consider how much time and energy you have to devote also. Benifits of having your pets spayed or neutered are:
Thoughts on Animal Rights
If we cut up beasts simply because they cannot prevent us and because we are backing our own side in the struggle for existence, it is only logical to cut up imbeciles, criminals, enemies, or capitalists for the same reasons. ~C. S. Lewis (novelist and essayist) |
