“He grew too big”. “My parents didn’t want him”. “We now have a baby.”” He got ill”. “There was a problem with the neighbours”. “We changed homes/ jobs”. “He was messy around the house”. “ He was barking”. “We changed our mind”. “She had puppies we hadn’t taken into account”.
We take calls like this every day; dozens of calls for several problems which we try to solve. Several of these calls are about dogs who have been abandoned or dogs whose keepers can no longer keep and try to “pass on” to a welfare organization or shelter. The majority of the calls come from people whose dog gave birth and they have no place for the puppies. How did it happen that she gave birth? Why wasn’t she neutered?
These are the calls that make us mad; mostly when it is about dogs or cats that have already lived some time together with the people who call us. We know that because the welfare organizations’ capacity is limited, these animals will soon be abandoned in the streets, with all the consequences this means. We know that all these people haven’t microchipped their animals and no one will ever know the crime they have committed. We know that no one will bother. We know that the puppies of the litter that someone irresponsibly did not avert will survive – if they survive at all – by accident and through hardship. We know that these people will hardly be punished. We know that the few volunteers available will do what they can for some of these.
But we hope that some of you will read an article like this and will advocate neutering and microchipping; that you will not allow someone you know say casually “I think I’ll let her have one litter first” without reacting. We hope that you will not abandon an animal and you will not allow anyone “let it free where there’s people and that it will be ok, no harm can happen to them”
Abandoning an animal is a crime punishable by law.
Their indifference sickens us; to the animals, to humans. This despicable attitude that considers animals to be things to “own” for as long as it is convenient sickens us.
We change ourselves to change the world. That’s all it takes.