Hope for the Homeless
Reprinted from October, 2009 Just as relevent 2 years later.
I am asked all the time why I dedicate so much time and effort into rescued animals. People say, "There are so many other worthwhile groups out there and you give your time to animals."I say to them, "There are lots of groups for humans, children and adults alike. There are groups for artists, and art students; groups for alternate lifestyles; groups for addicts, and the list goes on." These groups are not sentenced to death by the system. Homeless animals are.
They are sentenced to death every day in this country, because of breed, or temperment or age. They are hauled off to gas chambers in some parts of the rural south. Many are given a shot they never wake up from. They are then hauled to a county landfill somewhere, or dumped in a crematorium. When was the last time you visited a county dump and saw the mound of animals piled eight or ten feet high with companion animals no one wants?
It is easier to pretend this doesn't happen.Dinner conversations don't revolve around homeless animals. It is easier to put your head in the sand and say it is not your problem.
Therein lies the problem. You give that control to other people because you don't want to be bothered with it. You don't spay and neuter your pets. You don't keep your animals contained to your home. You don't have to hear them cry at night after you have left them. You don't have to see the look on their face as they are given a death sentence or hold their bodies while life goes away. You have made it someone else's problem.
These are the reasons I do what I do. These are the reasons most animal welfare workers go to work every day for little pay. You won't receive a death sentence if someone doesn't want you. These animals don't have a choice. It has already been made for them.
I am asked all the time why I dedicate so much time and effort into rescued animals. People say, "There are so many other worthwhile groups out there and you give your time to animals."I say to them, "There are lots of groups for humans, children and adults alike. There are groups for artists, and art students; groups for alternate lifestyles; groups for addicts, and the list goes on." These groups are not sentenced to death by the system. Homeless animals are.
They are sentenced to death every day in this country, because of breed, or temperment or age. They are hauled off to gas chambers in some parts of the rural south. Many are given a shot they never wake up from. They are then hauled to a county landfill somewhere, or dumped in a crematorium. When was the last time you visited a county dump and saw the mound of animals piled eight or ten feet high with companion animals no one wants?
It is easier to pretend this doesn't happen.Dinner conversations don't revolve around homeless animals. It is easier to put your head in the sand and say it is not your problem.
Therein lies the problem. You give that control to other people because you don't want to be bothered with it. You don't spay and neuter your pets. You don't keep your animals contained to your home. You don't have to hear them cry at night after you have left them. You don't have to see the look on their face as they are given a death sentence or hold their bodies while life goes away. You have made it someone else's problem.
These are the reasons I do what I do. These are the reasons most animal welfare workers go to work every day for little pay. You won't receive a death sentence if someone doesn't want you. These animals don't have a choice. It has already been made for them.
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