So,i was bored at work and i browsed the pet section on craigslist and came across this post about adopting pets instead of buying them from breeders and petshop because of how many dogs&cats are killed everyear and how they are being killed and treated in the pound. if you're interested to read they're down below, but if not just skip.
anyhow, i think the article is interesting and I want to share with my friends on facebook because a lot of them dont realize that this is happening. I, not in any way was intending to offend my friends who bought their dogs from breeders or petshop, i just want to share or show them what's really going on. So I tag these people that I thought needed to know, or can spread the word, or would want to read it.
One of them is someone I rarely know, I just know that he's an activist, a vegetarian....emotional, weird guy. and downright annoying, for me. I'm not really his friend, the only thing we got in common is that we both love and care for animals. he's also got a unspoken reputation of being "weird and egocentric".
I realize that me tagging people to my notes I will not always get sympathetic response, and people are entitled to their own opinion, and that's okay....until his response came and I felt "if you dont like it, keep it to yourself, ur comment is so unnecessary". but maybe this is because i'm just not really fond of him in the first place.
SO, his response was
"oh well, what's the difference between these animals and the animals served on your place 3x a day? why love one and hate the other?"
is he trying to corner me with that question? i'm just so annoyed and get emotional after reading this. maybe if it came from a different person i wouldnt give a damn. besides his question is unrelevant, dont u think?
relinquishing an animal because they're not cute anymore or because they mess up your backyard is different from eating meat!
one is being irresponsible...and the other one is a necessity being a human being.
i want to write something back to him because if i dont it will give him the satisfaction thinking that I give in. but I'm too annoyed to think of the right words to say! i cant even verbalize things. I want to say something that make sense without being too verbose, make him feel "D'OH!"
I need help. what would you say to him? I dont want this to turn into a heated argument but I dont want to not say anything either. he's the type of person who always gets to have the last word and likes to think that he is wise and all that. eugh.
sorry this turns out to be really long.
if you want to read the post they're below, but if not, skip to the last paragraph.
A Letter from a Shelter Manager
I think our society needs a huge "Wake-up" call. As a shelter manager, I am going to share a little insight with you all...a view from the inside if you will.
First off, all of you breeders/sellers should be made to work in the "back" of an animal shelter for just one day. Maybe if you saw the life drain from a few sad, lost, confused eyes, you would change your mind about breeding and selling to people you don't even know.
That puppy you just sold will most likely end up in my shelter when it's not a cute little puppy anymore. So how would you feel if you knew that there's about a 90% chance that dog will never walk out of the shelter it is going to be dumped at? Purebred or not! About 50% of all of the dogs that are "owner surrenders" or "strays", that come into my shelter are purebred dogs.
The most common excuses I hear are; "We are moving and we can't take our dog (or cat)." Really? Where are you moving too that doesn't allow pets? Or they say "The dog got bigger than we thought it would". How big did you think a German Shepherd would get? "We don't have time for her". Really? I work a 10-12 hour day and still have time for my 6 dogs! "She's tearing up our yard". How about making her a part of your family? They always tell me "We just don't want to have to stress about finding a place for her we know she'll get adopted, she's a good dog".
Odds are your pet won't get adopted & how stressful do you think being in a shelter is? Well, let me tell you, your pet has 72 hours to find a new family from the moment you drop it off. Sometimes a little longer if the shelter isn't full and your dog manages to stay completely healthy. If it sniffles, it dies. Your pet will be confined to a small run/kennel in a room with about 25 other barking or crying animals. It will have to relieve itself where it eats and sleeps. It will be depressed and it will cry constantly for the family that abandoned it. If your pet is lucky, I will have enough volunteers in that day to take him/her for a walk. If I don't, your pet won't get any attention besides having a bowl of food slid under the kennel door and the waste sprayed out of its pen with a high-powered hose. If your dog is big, black or any of the "Bully" breeds (pit bull, rottie, mastiff, etc) it was pretty much dead when you walked it through the front door.
Those dogs just don't get adopted. It doesn't matter how 'sweet' or 'well behaved' they are.
If your dog doesn't get adopted within its 72 hours and the shelter is full, it will be destroyed. If the shelter isn't full and your dog is good enough, and of a desirable enough breed it may get a stay of execution, but not for long . Most dogs get very kennel protective after about a week and are destroyed for showing aggression. Even the sweetest dogs will turn in this environment. If your pet makes it over all of those hurdles chances are it will get kennel cough or an upper respiratory infection and will be destroyed because shelters just don't have the funds to pay for even a $100 treatment.
Here's a little euthanasia 101 for those of you that have never witnessed a perfectly healthy, scared animal being "put-down".
First, your pet will be taken from its kennel on a leash. They always look like they think they are going for a walk happy, wagging their tails. Until they get to "The Room", every one of them freaks out and puts on the brakes when we get to the door. It must smell like death or they can feel the sad souls that are left in there, it's strange, but it happens with every one of them. Your dog or cat will be restrained, held down by 1 or 2 vet techs depending on the size and how freaked out they are. Then a euthanasia tech or a vet will start the process. They will find a vein in the front leg and inject a lethal dose of the "pink stuff". Hopefully your pet doesn't panic from being restrained and jerk. I've seen the needles tear out of a leg and been covered with the resulting blood and been deafened by the yelps and screams. They all don't just "go to sleep", sometimes they spasm for a while, gasp for air and defecate on themselves.
When it all ends, your pets corpse will be stacked like firewood in a large freezer in the back with all of the other animals that were killed waiting to be picked up like garbage. What happens next? Cremated? Taken to the dump? Rendered into pet food? You'll never know and it probably won't even cross your mind. It was just an animal and you can always buy another one, right?
I hope that those of you that have read this are bawling your eyes out and can't get the pictures out of your head I deal with everyday on the way home from work.
I hate my job, I hate that it exists & I hate that it will always be there unless you people make some changes and realize that the lives you are affecting go much farther than the pets you dump at a shelter.
Between 9 and 11 MILLION animals die every year in shelters and only you can stop it. I do my best to save every life I can but rescues are always full, and there are more animals coming in everyday than there are homes.
My point to all of this DON'T BREED OR BUY WHILE SHELTER PETS DIE!
Hate me if you want to. The truth hurts and reality is what it is. I just hope I maybe changed one persons mind about breeding their dog, taking their loving pet to a shelter, or buying a dog. I hope that someone will walk into my shelter and say "I saw this and it made me want to adopt". THAT WOULD MAKE IT WORTH IT
okay, what about saying like
"i know you're a vegetarian, but do you not own leather? does each and every product you use have the "not tested on animals" label on it? you do what you can do. besides your response is totally unrelevant"
help me. i turn to TPF because i know for a fact that some responses offered here are really good.
thanks in advance.
anyhow, i think the article is interesting and I want to share with my friends on facebook because a lot of them dont realize that this is happening. I, not in any way was intending to offend my friends who bought their dogs from breeders or petshop, i just want to share or show them what's really going on. So I tag these people that I thought needed to know, or can spread the word, or would want to read it.
One of them is someone I rarely know, I just know that he's an activist, a vegetarian....emotional, weird guy. and downright annoying, for me. I'm not really his friend, the only thing we got in common is that we both love and care for animals. he's also got a unspoken reputation of being "weird and egocentric".
I realize that me tagging people to my notes I will not always get sympathetic response, and people are entitled to their own opinion, and that's okay....until his response came and I felt "if you dont like it, keep it to yourself, ur comment is so unnecessary". but maybe this is because i'm just not really fond of him in the first place.
SO, his response was
"oh well, what's the difference between these animals and the animals served on your place 3x a day? why love one and hate the other?"
is he trying to corner me with that question? i'm just so annoyed and get emotional after reading this. maybe if it came from a different person i wouldnt give a damn. besides his question is unrelevant, dont u think?
relinquishing an animal because they're not cute anymore or because they mess up your backyard is different from eating meat!
one is being irresponsible...and the other one is a necessity being a human being.
i want to write something back to him because if i dont it will give him the satisfaction thinking that I give in. but I'm too annoyed to think of the right words to say! i cant even verbalize things. I want to say something that make sense without being too verbose, make him feel "D'OH!"
I need help. what would you say to him? I dont want this to turn into a heated argument but I dont want to not say anything either. he's the type of person who always gets to have the last word and likes to think that he is wise and all that. eugh.
sorry this turns out to be really long.
if you want to read the post they're below, but if not, skip to the last paragraph.
A Letter from a Shelter Manager
I think our society needs a huge "Wake-up" call. As a shelter manager, I am going to share a little insight with you all...a view from the inside if you will.
First off, all of you breeders/sellers should be made to work in the "back" of an animal shelter for just one day. Maybe if you saw the life drain from a few sad, lost, confused eyes, you would change your mind about breeding and selling to people you don't even know.
That puppy you just sold will most likely end up in my shelter when it's not a cute little puppy anymore. So how would you feel if you knew that there's about a 90% chance that dog will never walk out of the shelter it is going to be dumped at? Purebred or not! About 50% of all of the dogs that are "owner surrenders" or "strays", that come into my shelter are purebred dogs.
The most common excuses I hear are; "We are moving and we can't take our dog (or cat)." Really? Where are you moving too that doesn't allow pets? Or they say "The dog got bigger than we thought it would". How big did you think a German Shepherd would get? "We don't have time for her". Really? I work a 10-12 hour day and still have time for my 6 dogs! "She's tearing up our yard". How about making her a part of your family? They always tell me "We just don't want to have to stress about finding a place for her we know she'll get adopted, she's a good dog".
Odds are your pet won't get adopted & how stressful do you think being in a shelter is? Well, let me tell you, your pet has 72 hours to find a new family from the moment you drop it off. Sometimes a little longer if the shelter isn't full and your dog manages to stay completely healthy. If it sniffles, it dies. Your pet will be confined to a small run/kennel in a room with about 25 other barking or crying animals. It will have to relieve itself where it eats and sleeps. It will be depressed and it will cry constantly for the family that abandoned it. If your pet is lucky, I will have enough volunteers in that day to take him/her for a walk. If I don't, your pet won't get any attention besides having a bowl of food slid under the kennel door and the waste sprayed out of its pen with a high-powered hose. If your dog is big, black or any of the "Bully" breeds (pit bull, rottie, mastiff, etc) it was pretty much dead when you walked it through the front door.
Those dogs just don't get adopted. It doesn't matter how 'sweet' or 'well behaved' they are.
If your dog doesn't get adopted within its 72 hours and the shelter is full, it will be destroyed. If the shelter isn't full and your dog is good enough, and of a desirable enough breed it may get a stay of execution, but not for long . Most dogs get very kennel protective after about a week and are destroyed for showing aggression. Even the sweetest dogs will turn in this environment. If your pet makes it over all of those hurdles chances are it will get kennel cough or an upper respiratory infection and will be destroyed because shelters just don't have the funds to pay for even a $100 treatment.
Here's a little euthanasia 101 for those of you that have never witnessed a perfectly healthy, scared animal being "put-down".
First, your pet will be taken from its kennel on a leash. They always look like they think they are going for a walk happy, wagging their tails. Until they get to "The Room", every one of them freaks out and puts on the brakes when we get to the door. It must smell like death or they can feel the sad souls that are left in there, it's strange, but it happens with every one of them. Your dog or cat will be restrained, held down by 1 or 2 vet techs depending on the size and how freaked out they are. Then a euthanasia tech or a vet will start the process. They will find a vein in the front leg and inject a lethal dose of the "pink stuff". Hopefully your pet doesn't panic from being restrained and jerk. I've seen the needles tear out of a leg and been covered with the resulting blood and been deafened by the yelps and screams. They all don't just "go to sleep", sometimes they spasm for a while, gasp for air and defecate on themselves.
When it all ends, your pets corpse will be stacked like firewood in a large freezer in the back with all of the other animals that were killed waiting to be picked up like garbage. What happens next? Cremated? Taken to the dump? Rendered into pet food? You'll never know and it probably won't even cross your mind. It was just an animal and you can always buy another one, right?
I hope that those of you that have read this are bawling your eyes out and can't get the pictures out of your head I deal with everyday on the way home from work.
I hate my job, I hate that it exists & I hate that it will always be there unless you people make some changes and realize that the lives you are affecting go much farther than the pets you dump at a shelter.
Between 9 and 11 MILLION animals die every year in shelters and only you can stop it. I do my best to save every life I can but rescues are always full, and there are more animals coming in everyday than there are homes.
My point to all of this DON'T BREED OR BUY WHILE SHELTER PETS DIE!
Hate me if you want to. The truth hurts and reality is what it is. I just hope I maybe changed one persons mind about breeding their dog, taking their loving pet to a shelter, or buying a dog. I hope that someone will walk into my shelter and say "I saw this and it made me want to adopt". THAT WOULD MAKE IT WORTH IT
okay, what about saying like
"i know you're a vegetarian, but do you not own leather? does each and every product you use have the "not tested on animals" label on it? you do what you can do. besides your response is totally unrelevant"
help me. i turn to TPF because i know for a fact that some responses offered here are really good.
thanks in advance.
