Oh Boy...

I received this article in an email today... It would seem that this behavior is becoming more and more prevalent in the news recently. They point out someone who is "Doing Rescue Wrong" and smear them all over. Don't get me wrong, I think that animal hoarding and taking these dogs out of kill shelters to put them into poorer conditions is horrendous, but this article articulated questions at the end that I have been asking myself for a long time:

"Questions

• What are policymakers doing to address this crisis?

• What role do breeders and powerful lobbies like the American Kennel Club (AKC) play? Most of the dogs in the Via case were purebred boxers and Chihuahuas.

• Why aren’t puppy mill operators and irresponsible breeders regulated by more stringent laws or prohibited altogether? Year after year their factories churn out untold millions of animals and rake in substantial, often untaxed profits. Some of their “products” ended up unwanted and diseased—afflicted by genetically-predisposed chronic mange, blindness, and deafness—as the responsibility of Alice Via.

• Why doesn’t every American community offer free or nominally-priced, easily-accessible spay/neuter services and pet care education? Wouldn’t that be less expensive—at least in the long run—than the price we’re paying now?

• Why, in California and most other states, is there no law to guide public shelters in proper methods of releasing animals to private rescue groups? Such a law, like the new shelter access bill recently introduced in New York, might have helped save taxpayers the expense of prosecuting Alice Via and kenneling her 62 dogs at county shelters for several months. (Five of those animals remained in a county shelter as of last week, amounting to one year of custody in county kennels, according to a shelter spokesman.)

• Is the system fair to the tens of thousands of private rescuers around the nation who sacrifice time, money, and, as in the Via case, risk reputations and even prosecution trying to take up the slack left by overwhelmed public shelters?

• Why is there so little public guidance, support, or even acknowledgment of  those private rescue groups? Such assistance might also have helped prevent the expensive prosecution of Alice Via.

• Would less finger-pointing and more cooperation between all of these various players create viable solutions? "

It seems to me that instead of finding solutions for the amounts of animals literally pouring into shelters, rescues, and humane societies across the nation, we'd rather point out how bad they are doing at it. Instead of people at the individual level accepting their responsibility for their actions, they scorn those that can't pick up their slack. Really?!?!

We can't even pass laws in Ohio to make blatant animal cruelty more than a MISDEMEANOR. But we are expected to take in every abandoned, broken, scarred, scared, and rejected pup that get thrown away for whatever stupid reason. And yes, 90% of the time it is a STUPID reason. "he's just too energetic" Uh, it's a boxer, did you do ANY research? "My wife and I are expecting a baby" Um, so when the next kid comes along you are going to throw the first one away? "He chewed my favorite shoes" ARE YOU EFFING KIDDING ME!?!? It's a PUPPY! Perhaps you should PUT YOUR SHOES AWAY OUT OF REACH OF A TEETHING PUPPY!!!!!!!!! 

In my (not so) humble opinion, people that justify these excuses for dumping their problems on society shouldn't be allow to have dogs. Someone couldn't take the time to train (Yes, sorry folks, TRAIN, they don't come out of the womb sitting pretty and laying down on command) and properly care for their dog, they dump them at the nearest shelter because it's "best" for them. No, it's not. Best for them is that your irresponsible ass didn't get a puppy in the first place. Best for them would be better breeding practices and more affordable medical care and spay/neuters. Best for them would be a lock down of BYB and puppy mills. That's what would be "best for them."  

Sorry for the rant, but I go out of my way to make sure that the environment I provide for my dogs is nurturing, healthy, and stimulating for them. I don't distinguish care between my dog and my fosters, they all get the best I can provide. I limit what I can take in to what I know I can comfortably afford and give them individual attention they need. It pains me that I can't save them all, but I can do what I can, and hope that I can make at least a little difference.