Attitude adjustments about old animals
Growing up all over the world gave me exposure to many different cultures and attitudes. For many in different cultures, pets are simply property. They eat, play and sleep outside, interact with the family when the family is outside, but are not part of a central family as I know it. I remember a professor I had who was from Sierra Leone in Africa. He was simply amazed at how our pets are treated. When we asked him didn't they have pets in Sierra Leone he said of course, but they were kept outside.
You can find this difference in culture in the different areas of the United States. Now, before everyone gets up in arms with me, I am not saying this is wrong, simply it is the culture of the area. This is no more obvious than the southern region.
In many big areas of the south, dogs and cats are treated as family members. They are pampered pooches and kitties and don't want for anything. In the more rural areas, they are treated as property and many spend their lives living outside and doing whatever particular job their master has assigned them to do.
I was reading a blog yesterday about a situation which happened with a man and his hunting dogs. They became elderly so he turned them in at a night drop box at a local shelter where they were all gassed the next morning. I was horrified but not surprised. The dogs had no more use as far as he was concerned and he needed a new set of dogs to take hunting. The dogs were his property and that was his attitude.
This is not a new way of thinking. It has been around for a long time. It addresses property rights, but not animal rights. Do the animals have rights? Most states have no laws against keeping an animal outside as long as they have shelter, food and water. As long as they are cared for in this way, everything should be fine.
I think they need an adjustment to their attitude. I don't have a problem with hunters. I don't have a problem with hunting dogs. My problem is with the attitude these are disposable once they have done their job. Just dump them off at a shelter to be gassed since they are old and not worth anything to you anymore.
Does this mean they have no worth? Absolutely not. I believe we need to educate people that animals do have worth. Even old ones. As a friend has said on numerous occasions to me, "They are not toasters to be turned in for a new model."
You can find this difference in culture in the different areas of the United States. Now, before everyone gets up in arms with me, I am not saying this is wrong, simply it is the culture of the area. This is no more obvious than the southern region.
In many big areas of the south, dogs and cats are treated as family members. They are pampered pooches and kitties and don't want for anything. In the more rural areas, they are treated as property and many spend their lives living outside and doing whatever particular job their master has assigned them to do.
I was reading a blog yesterday about a situation which happened with a man and his hunting dogs. They became elderly so he turned them in at a night drop box at a local shelter where they were all gassed the next morning. I was horrified but not surprised. The dogs had no more use as far as he was concerned and he needed a new set of dogs to take hunting. The dogs were his property and that was his attitude.
This is not a new way of thinking. It has been around for a long time. It addresses property rights, but not animal rights. Do the animals have rights? Most states have no laws against keeping an animal outside as long as they have shelter, food and water. As long as they are cared for in this way, everything should be fine.
I think they need an adjustment to their attitude. I don't have a problem with hunters. I don't have a problem with hunting dogs. My problem is with the attitude these are disposable once they have done their job. Just dump them off at a shelter to be gassed since they are old and not worth anything to you anymore.
Does this mean they have no worth? Absolutely not. I believe we need to educate people that animals do have worth. Even old ones. As a friend has said on numerous occasions to me, "They are not toasters to be turned in for a new model."
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