What I Really Think

By PJ Martin

The Herald-News

 

I’ve been told I am too blunt when it comes to saying what I think and that’s ok with me. I realize it’s true. This editorial is going to be one of those blunt, opinionated pieces.

Metcalfe County has a small animal shelter (dogs only), but that shelter is for the dogs found hurt and starving on the roadside. For the dogs people move away and leave to fend for themselves. It’s especially for the innocent puppies dumped on a back road, because the puppy’s owner is too lazy to get their dog spayed.

I am on the animal shelter board. I have always loved animals and I hate to see any of them mistreated.

If I told you how many people ask to surrender their pets to the shelter every day, you would be shocked. They want to surrender them, because they are tired of taking care of them, they’re too old, they are unwanted puppies, etc.…

I hear, “I have these puppies and I can’t take care of them. Can you take them at the shelter?”

The answer is, “No, because they are your animals and it is your responsibility to find them homes.”

Now usually at this point, the person starts insulting me, calling me names, or putting down the shelter, because they don’t get to take the easy way out. If you wait a day or so, guess what, those puppies get dumped on a road somewhere in the county.

This person never got their dog spayed and now she has had puppies. Owner, that is your fault for not being responsible enough to get your dog spayed!

Then I hear, “I don’t have the money to get my dog fixed.”

My first thoughts are, I wonder how many expensive tattoos this person has or how many packs of cigarettes they smoke a day. Yet, they don’t have the money to be a responsible pet owner and take care of their dog. It also makes me wonder how they take care of their kids.

Every so often, I see ads for spay/neuter clinics at other places with a special discounted price. I would love for our county to be able to do that; however, we are not financially equipped for that. That’s another reason we work so hard to raise money for the shelter.

Every dog that comes into the shelter is treated for fleas, and ticks, dewormed, vaccinated, and spayed or neutered. That is what your adoption fee covers. The only time a dog is put down is an extreme case such as being so dangerous it can’t be controlled or it’s just so sick there is no hope.

Donna and Doc work really hard taking care of these dogs. I just wish some of the owners around here cared half as much for their own dogs.