Please don’t dump your pet

Published 5:10pm Friday, July 17, 2009

A couple weeks ago, I was working outside in the yard when I heard a puppy yelping.

Considering there are a lot of coyotes in our area, I thought it might be a coyote pup abandoned by its mother or one left by a coyote who had been killed.

I was fully prepared to bring whatever pup to the Alabama Wildlife Rescue and not keep it, much as I wanted to.

Instead, I walked into the woods to find a puppy who was dehydrated and covered in fleas and ticks.

He tried to run, but passed out as soon as I got to him. I brought him home, we gave him fluids and warmed him up.

I know that sometimes people can’t take care of their animals.

I know that there are times that their animals have babies that they can’t take care of.

Just one request: Don’t dump them!

I got a call from one of the guys who works for my landlord.

He said that he found two shepherd puppies abandoned on a property near the quarry.

Right after that, I heard from someone else saying that they’d found a Basset hound mix near the same area.

The puppy we’d found was right off the quarry in Saginaw.

Though it didn’t sound like it was any of the mixes described above, it was still too young to be separated from the mother.

If you really have to “get rid” of the pets you’ve got, please take them to a shelter! At least then someone will be able to get an accurate medical history and they’ll be easier to place for adoption.

The puppy we found?

We’re keeping this one.

We’re done adopting though — everything else goes to the shelter.

Neither one of us wanted another puppy.

So, what are the reasons people dump their pets?

Economy?

Apathy?

I really don’t understand.

There is a program where people can get their pets spayed or neutered really inexpensively.

Though a lot of clinics don’t recognize vaccinations that are from the “feed store,” sometimes that’s all we can afford.

Our pets need to be vaccinated, fixed and cared for to the best of our abilities.

We don’t need to dump them at the nearest spot where we think they’ll be best taken care of.