News
Jun 24 2011
Pets = Trash?
Kitten season is in full swing. It amazes the people of SART how many think dumping a young life into the streets is the acceptable behavior for today’s society. Like human babies, little kittens need a lot of care. They need to be fed, loved and medically cared for – how does that happen on the street? I know if you are reading this article, you are probably not a person who can dump a baby or litter of babies along a road, in a park, by the lake, or in someone’s trash, taped in a box, or in a bag. But you might know someone who has done this. Please educate them. The kittens either starve, resort to eating unhealthy things to fill their stomachs, or are killed. Yes, it takes the responsibility away from the person who threw away the young lives – but all it really does is puts the responsibility onto someone else, if they open their hearts to do so.
The answer is to be responsible before you take in a pet. Decide whether you can financially take care of this creature, cat or dog, before taking on the ownership. Spaying or neutering is essential. Are you able to follow through and do this? If so, welcome the pet into your home. If not, don’t take one – you will only find frustration along the road. Or, if you can’t take on the spaying or neutering, but could nurture and care for a pet, only adopt one that has already been done. Only having our society accept responsibility for what is theirs will help get the overpopulation of cats and dogs under control. If you need help finding a place to spay or neuter your pet, please contact us and we will help you schedule.
If you are feeding strays, please know that as you can, you should capture and get them fixed as well. They can be put back out and continue to be fed, but if you start feeding 2 or 3 strays, within a year you will be feeding 20. They will multiply so quickly and then you will be overwhelmed. But if you capture, get them cared for, and then put them back out and continue to feed, it will only remain the ones you initially started feeding and you will enjoy their mannered, healthy behavior since they will no longer fight, mate, mark or howl. Then, you can peacefully enjoy watching these beautiful animals as they come to feed and greet you.
So, if you are driving along a road, walking along the street, playing in the park, or picnicing at the lake, and you see a stray – do the right thing. Feed it, capture it, nurture it, care for it, and be sure to find a good home with someone who will care for it properly. Only this, coupled with shelters housing the unwanted, will finally get our over population in check. And what a wonderful thing it would be, to have shelters who have room for the occasional lost soul, streets not filled with starving, unwanted animals, and pet owners who truly love and enjoy their pets. It can happen, but it takes more than shelters to fix this situation. It takes all of us making the correct decisions with regard to the pets we have, the strays we encounter, and how we live together in our communities.
SART believes it is God’s intention for us to watch over the innocent and helpless. Open your hearts to the possibility of caring for the strays you see in your neighborhoods. Come together with others, get these animals fixed, and enjoy what they have to offer. You will be so glad you helped – and so will the ones you helped be glad you did!
