Some Personal Experiences of Concern for our Pets

I would like to share several personal experiences I have had to illustrate the suffering many animals live by our hands. This is why I feel education and public awareness is important in the fight against animal cruelty.

When my husband and I were first married and moved to the country, we would have to carry our own trash a couple of miles down the road to a community dumpster. There were many times I would come home with a litter of puppies or kittens someone would have left at the site. It is hard for me to believe that people would actually do something like this, leave helpless creatures to wander into the road and get hit by a car, starve, or fall prey to some other animal. At one time we were caring for 18 dogs and 15 cats, trying to find homes for them all. This was financially taxing trying to keep up with all the vaccines, vet bills, and food, but we did what we could to care for them. Finally we found homes for all but 2 dogs and a cat which we kept as part of our family. Eventually they started garbage service in our area and removed the dumpsters. I would still check the area to see if any animals were dropped, none were. This made me feel good, not seeing this kind of abuse, but I wondered where were they being dumped now.

Through the years in our area neighbors would complain about dog knapping. The rumor was that dogs would be stolen from their homes to be used to train dogs to fight. We always kept our pets indoors when we were not home because if the rumors were true I did not want my dogs taken. Indeed in the 19 years we have lived in this area I know of 2 dog fighting rings that have been broken up. The latest one only 2 months ago. I can only imagine how many go on without our knowledge.

Just recently my husband noticed a dog wandering down one of the roads where we live. The next day he saw this same dog in the same area. He came home got some dog food and went back out to investigate. The dog was a female and had given birth to a litter in a storm drain. The puppies were to young to wander out and my husband could not fit to get them. Each day on the way to work he fed the mother and checked on the puppies. When the puppies finally wandered out we collected them and found homes for each. Unfortunately we were not able to get the mother that day and have not seen her since. Since we live in the country, many people hunt in this area. They will use "hunting dogs" to drive deer. Often we will see these dogs wandering the roads, left behind by their "master".

These are only a few of the stories. There are many more but do not have a happy ending. I thought about posting those also but decided against it because they are just too heartbreaking for the more sensitive. What have these experiences shown me? Not all people keep pets for companionship. There are many cruel people who view animals as property to be discarded if they become an inconvenience. Some even view animals as worth little more than trash to be thrown out. It is truly amazing to me that we can treat God's creatures this way. What I hope to accomplish with this page is to show the importance of keeping unwanted puppies and kittens from being born to a life of abuse and neglect. And to help find ways to prevent suffering of the innocent.