Saturday, January 16, 2016

Throw-Away Dogs

Dear Sir:

I use that term loosely, because I don’t really know you. But I know what you did, and that dastardly deed means you really don’t deserve the designation, “Sir.”

I happened to be passing by two weeks ago when you dumped that little dog alongside U.S 411 in the Odenville area. No, I didn’t actually see you put him out of your pickup. But I saw you parked there, saw the dog running around the truck, watched you pull away. It didn’t take Sherlock Holmes to figure out what you had done.

What kind of person are you to abandon a helpless animal like that? Why would you leave him to fend for himself, to find his own food and shelter, maybe get hit by a car? If you didn’t want him, why didn’t you take him to an animal shelter? Was the $15 surrender fee more than you could afford? Guess you don’t mind taxpayers picking up the bill for your thoughtlessness, huh? I’d like to take you out in the woods somewhere and dump you, see how long it takes you to find food and water and your way home.

If you had had his mother spayed, as any responsible dog owner should do, you wouldn’t have had him and who knows how many other puppies to take care of. Or did you not have the $35 for that, either? That’s what a spay/neuter certificate costs when you buy from the Animal Control Center of Pell City. Or maybe you wanted your bitch to have the experience of having babies, as if she had human female emotions. Or did you want your kids to experience the miracle of birth? Rent them a video, for crying out loud. My guess is, you just didn’t give a damn one way or the other.

Unfortunately, there are millions of folks like you roaming our roadways. That’s why there are an estimated 13,600 animal shelters in the U.S., and 7.6 million companion animals entering those shelters every year. Did you know that approximately 31 percent of the 3.9 million dogs who enter shelters are euthanized? That rate is even higher in Alabama. But what do you care? You have one less mouth to feed.

When I picked up that little fellow, I spent a fruitless hour and a half knocking on doors, trying to find his owner. I had a vain hope that I was mistaken about what you did, that he had escaped from a house close by, and pictured a teary-eyed little girl wondering what had happened to her beloved pet. I even took him by the Branchville vet’s office to have him scanned for a microchip, but of course, there wasn’t one.

I would have kept him myself, but I already have two and three-fourths dogs: An American Mastiff, a mid-sized rescue and a lab mix that technically belongs to a neighbor but who stays at my house at least 75 percent of the time. They almost killed this little guy when he slipped by me at the gate to the outdoor pen where I put him during the warm days. I brought him in at night when it got cold. I posted his likeness on several community Facebook sites. Finally, I did what you should have done in the first place: I took him to Animal Control in Pell City. I paid his surrender fee, and I pre-paid the $70 adoption fee in the hopes that this would make him more adoptable. Management there assured me it would.


Meanwhile, I’m watching for your truck. My grandsons were with me, and one has a memory like the proverbial elephant. If we see it again, we’ll get your tag number. We’ll report you. Or maybe we’ll just send Freddy Krueger after you. Stay alert, and don’t walk down any dark alleys.

1 comment:

  1. Tell it sister. It burns me up too. We live on a dead end road and countless dogs have come to live with us after being abandoned.
    R

    ReplyDelete