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Pick Up Your Litter!

© Stacey Monfils

Recently, in the local news, there was a story about two kittens that were literally pushed out of a car and left to fend for themselves. The kittens, a brother and sister of about 12 weeks, were left on the side of a busy road. Their chance of survival would have been slim to none if not for a passerbyer who saw the kittens being "dumped." She took down the vehicle's license plate and description of the car and gave it to the police. The news story couldn't verify if anything was being done to the individual who left the kittens.

Our society has become so desensitized to violence that even our animal companions are considered "throw away items. Not that this is anything new, mind you. After working in the animal shelter for 6 years, I've seen and heard it all. However, I recently posed a question to shoppers in a grocery store while soliciting donations for that very same shelter.

"If extenuating circumstances occured where you would have to give up your pet, what would you do with it?"

Fortunately, "Bring it to the animal shelter" was the most common response and I suppose I should be grateful. However, there were some responses that disturbed me.

"Give them away to someone in my family." "Put an ad in the newspaper advertising a free dog." Drop 'em off where I know someone who has a lot of cats would probably take 'em." Drop my cat off someplace where it would, hopefully, find a new home." "I'd probably just leave it behind and hope that the new tenant would give it a home." "My dog would never go with anyone else so I'd probably put it to sleep." If it were a puppy or kitten, I'd probably put it in a box and drop it off at the nearest farm." "I'd put up a sign advertising a free cat and if that didn't work, take it to the pound. Then again, I know they kill them there so I'd probably just drop it somewhere in a good neightborhood."

The responses go on and on. I was horrified at how many individuals stated they would drop their pets off. Pets are our companions, part of our families. Pets are living, breathing creatures. Would you drop off your child in a "good" neighborhood if you could no longer care for him/her?

I am sure many will say that there is a difference between a pet and a child, however research has shown that many violent people in society usually had a violent experience with an animal. How can we teach compassion if something such as disposing of living creatures has become an accepted way of life?

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