I apologize if this has been posted before, but I thought it was great. I am your Animal Control Officer. I am not the dreaded "dog catcher" or the "murderer" you call me. I'm not the one who allows your pets to breed, then dumps the unwanted puppies and kittens on roadsides and in shelters. I'm the one that must find the tiny animals before they die of starvation, exposure or disease and, as an act of mercy, exterminate them. It hurts me to be forced to kill hundreds of thousands of animals each year, but because of your irresponsibility, I have no choice. I'm not the one who abandons unwanted animals on the farm roads, telling myself that some friendly farmer will surely take them in and give them a good home. But I am the one who picks up the frightened animal who waits in vain for its beloved master, wondering why it has been abandoned. I am the one who must help that friendly farmer trap, tranquilize or kill that animal because it has begun to roam in packs with other abandoned, hungry animals, killing livestock, fowl and game. I am not the one who breeds and fights dogs in the name of "sport." But I am the one who fights the breeders and participants, and must pick up the dead and dying animals that have been left behind. So, remember, the next time a stray dog bits your child, your trash is dumped and scattered, your pet is lost, stolen, poisoned, or hit by a car, and it is the Animal Control Officer you call, not the "dog catcher." The next time your pet is picked up, or you are cited for neglecting or abusing it, remember that I am only trying to get you to fulfill your responsibility to your pet, your neighbor and yourself. Do not scorn me. Respect me, for I am the product of your irresponsibility. I love animals and I care.
The Animal Control here picks up abandoned animals and brings them to the shelter. It isn't like they take the animals home and drown them. I haven't been to the shelter here yet, but Animal Control worked *with* the shelter. I am more disgusted by people who brng in Betsy the dog because "she got big" or "we're pregnant so we are leaving here here" even though she'd lived with them for 4 years..those people are who we should be mad at.
Animal Control gets a bad rap but fact is we need them. I've called them out a few times when dangerous dogs were lurking about. They come (although sometimes take 6 hours) pick up the dog and house them so they're not wandering the streets as a danger to us or possibly get hit by a car. Whenever I see a dog wandering about the local shelters won't take 'em cuz by law they're not allowed to take in dogs or cats who currently may have owners so I have to take them to animal control. We need "control" of such things or the situation can easily get out of hand. Keep after those dog fighting rings, nothing makes me sadder and sick to my stomach then to see something like that.
I have been grateful to animal control many times. Living in a rural area we often get dropped off dogs that can (and have been)dangerous or at least a nuicence. An animal control officer gave this to me after picking up a bull dog that had been terrorizing the neighborhood. He was a good guy and it made him so mad that his job was even neccesary, and he hated being considered mean or uncaring. After what he had seen, trust me he cared.
we have one animal control shelter here in this town. they are assholes. i have brought strays in before and each time they say "you need to bring money for this animal" and basically act like assholes about the fact that i am bringing them "ANOTHER" animal to deal with. i adopted my dog lily from there, the place was dirty as hell and when i got her she had fleas, was dirty, and had kennel cough. the dogs are kept outdoors in kennels with only a small dog house for protection from the elements. i know they only have so much money but i've brought bags of donations in before and they have acted like it was something i owed to them or something. not grateful at all. i hate those people but i still donate for the animals. i've called them with questions about bringing strays in and they are SO RUDE. its really unbelievable. you would think these people are there because they love these animals but i dont think thats always the case.
Maybe it's because all the so-called animal lovers and activists donate their money and time fucking PeTA instead of their local shelters and SPCAs. PeTA gets $20 million a year in donations meanwhile shelters recieve the leftover piddlings. Shelters have a reason to be bitter. Elle, what is your donation ration to groups like PeTA versus your donation ratio to an animal shelter? Do you spend more time passing out leaflets against KFC when you could go over to your shelter and volunteer to help clean the kennels? What about sending thankyou cards each month, thanking those people for their work? They probably feel unappreciated..they recieve little money, people just want to dump their unwanted animals without also contributing to the upkeep of the shelter, and people only want to adopt the "cute" animals thus leaving the employees the horrible duty of putting down the dogs and cats no one wants. If your shelter bothers you, go volunteer to help make it better, organize your community to make it a better and happier place. Show those people some love! They go to work each day for the sake of the animals.
For your information I DO dontate my TIME AND MONEY when i have it to various shelters and organizations, peta only gets my time. dont assume im complaining. secondly, i dont believe that just because this certain shelter does not or may not have alot of financial support that does not give them the right to treat people and/or animals like shit.period.
cynical otter, there is no reason to be rude to Elle. She obviously cares about animals. We moved a couple months ago and I haven't been to this shelter here yet but my friend has, and she said they call the animals "it" and put down the ones that aren't as "cute" faster. At the shelter I was at before, they called the animals "baby" or "honey" or other names, and acknowledged they were not objects. If her shelter IS full of assholes then she has a right to say so. There is no excuse for treating animals poorly. It isn't their fault they are there. If people would stop buying from breeders and get their animals fixed, the problems would be drastically reduced. Secondly, don't act like Peta is the prime example of evil. They DO do a lot of work to help animals. I do not agree with everything they do and their publicity stunts take away from the cause, but they are not entirely bad. If we are talking abotu bad Charities, let's look at money-wasting animal-torturing "charities" like March of Dimes or American Cancer society. Elle, please remeber not all shelters are like that, and thank you for volunteering! Hopefully one day, shelters will not have to exist. Until that day, thank you for your work. I met my best friend at the shelter! His life is very different from what it was and he couldn't behappier. We adore him. Some shelter stories have happy endings.
i definaltey think that those rude, and seemingly apathetic shelter workers here are for sure the exception and not the rule. i've visted many shelters over the years and the majority of what i've seen were hard working people who care. when i adopted lily i thought "arent terriers supposed to be more active and outgoing?" - she was SO shy and quiet. not that i cared one bit but to see her today its like a totally different dog. she is the loudest and most outgoing dog i've ever seen. she is more than happy....she is enthusiastic about life. she is always smiling, giving kisses and wagging her little stub (her poor tail is docked). she is the boss of the house. i love it.
Well one thing people fail to remember when they are visiting a shelter is that the dogs and cats are not going to behave the same way. Many are withdrawn at first. You don't know their situations or background. Imagine living on a concrete floor and MAYBE getting to walk twice a week (if you are a dog). You also listen to screaming 24-7 and it smells. You are scared and lonely and you don't know why you are there. My dog was glad to get out so was happy from the get-go but he was abused so he was scared. He accidentally knocked over his water bowl and acted like I was going to (actually) kill him. It took him a little while to learn what actual playing was. He still is unsure how to play with other dogs. We believe he was forced to fight other dogs (and he is just a little guy). He did get over being afraid we'd beat him, though and knows we are his family and would never hurt him. My cat stayed in her room over a week, never leaving it. Now she comes out and demands petting. She is loving and happy. They do change, usually for the better, once they are out.
unfortunaltey those shy and scared dogs (due to their previous lives being so horrible) are usually the ones deemed "unadoptable". i guess people want to see happy-go-lucky tail wagging dogs.......i find it ridiculous. when i adopt a dog from a shelter i'm doing it to save their life and to make their life wonderful....i personally prefer to adopt a dog that has been abused or neglected because i know what a wonderful life i give my dogs and i want to make it up to them in a way and show them that life can be good. lily was quiet and non responsive when i first saw her. i said to the lady "is she always like this?" and she said "yup, always". i don't know her past but i do know for sure that she was "spanked" becasue in the beginning when i would tell her no she would cowar and run away from me. now when i tell her no (like when she humps the cat) she will actually bark at me like she is talking back! anyway, thank goodness for no kill rescue organizations and foster homes. they are really heroes.
We had the sweetest little stray cat that we adopted as our outside cat. He didn't get along with our cats and when we found him, he had a bloody stump for a tail that we tried our best to medicate at home because we couldn't afford the vet, and he wouldn't keep his bandage on, therefore leaving streaks of blood wherever he sat cuz he wouldn't stop chewing his scabs off. Well, after we'd had Stubby around for about a year, he ended up getting his eyes hurt really bad and not two days after he showed up all bloodied up, he went completely blind and got lost in the neighbor's yard. We brought him home and tried to get him to eat, in hopes he'd regain his strength and the cheaper vet in the area would be in town soon. He wouldn't eat, all he did was sleep and cry, so my mom decided tearfully to have animal control come. The guy who is head of animal control out here is one of the nicest guys you could ever hope to meet. My mom said he almost cried just looking at Stubby. He took him to the vet for us and the vet confirmed that he wasn't in very good shape and would just be in pain if they didn't put him down, so they did, and the guy that talked to my mom came back by the next day to let her know exactly what happened. I really like him, I think those people have a horrible reputation when all they do is help.
