Why do people get so bloody sentimental about animals? Why do otherwise intelligent people think that it is a good idea to give money so dogs and cats that are unwanted can be fed in perpetuity?
Very often these same people will refuse to give to human charities saying that we should look after our own, charity begins at home and what the poor bleeders need is contraceptives not food.
People watch advertisements in which cats and dogs are treated cruelly and respond by giving money to buy dog food and to pay for people to look after unwanted former pets. Unwanted is the key word. The original owners didn't want them and the concerned people who long to look after them cannot afford to keep them. Nobody has the time and money for them. Apparently this means it is perfectly reasonable to make people feel guilty and tap them for cash. Giving money does little to stop animals being abused, the vast majority is used to pay wages and buy food so that the unwanted animals are kept alive. What is the point in that?
The message is clear. If you have a pet that you don't want the best thing to do is to take it somewhere far away and abandon it. It will be found and somebody else's money will be used to feed it.
People who live in cities and never come in to contact with animals as a business can very easily begin to treat them like children. It is not practical to treat animals in this way, it leaves you open to ongoing commitments that could be unsustainable. Once an animal is treated as a child it becomes illegitimate to consider costs. If Fluffy needs a heart-lung transplant then Daddy will have to stump up the cash. You wouldn't flinch if it was a child, accuses the vet's stare, now be reasonable and sign the cheque, I'll fill the amount in later.
Where do you draw the line? Earthworms on life-support machines?
The time has come to give some people a big collective slap across the face. They are animals, you cannot give them open-ended commitments. They breed. There will be more. There is a bottomless pit waiting for your pity and your money, step back from the edge, don't fall in, don't drag the next generation in with you.
When
there is efficient death control to limit early death by disease or starvation
the population of any species that has evolved through a period of severe
struggle for survival will grow, like compound interest. Unless there
is some efficient limit on the numbers through birth control or euthanasia
the numbers will grow geometrically. Death control is always going to
be popular, whether it is feeding abandoned puppy dogs or bloat-bellied
African children, there will always be a good reason to do it, making
the case for it is simple, facts are not required, sentiment is more than
adequate to do the job. But the balancing limits on numbers will always
been seen as cruel and heartless. Nobody will ever become popular by preaching
birth control or gassing kittens. But ignoring the problem will not make
it go away. If you make the commitment to feed every cat and dog there
will never be any shortage of stray dogs to keep you in employment. Is
that the real message behind these animal support charities?
Give us your money or the kitten gets it.
How can you resist those big, moist, trusting sad eyes?
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