I’ve seen it numerous times in real life and it makes up seemingly half the episodes of the show Animal Cops(may not be its real name, reality show following officers specializing in animal abuse).
A person has a pet dog, they have to move and for whatever reason cannot take the animal with them. They cannot or do not have the time to find it a new home or take it to a shelter, so they do the cruelest sickest thing on the planet.
They lock the dog with one bowl of food and water or maybe even none in a room or garage, or chain it up outside with same(sometimes without even any shade in a sweltering southern climate). If the dog is lucky it is found before it starves to death or dies of heatstroke.
Is it so fucking hard to let the dog go free? Sure its not ideal but seems better than certain slow agonizing death right?
This is such a common thing but so cruel I don’t get it.:smack:
I can’t speak to it happening anywhere else, but it was a heartbreakingly common sight in the days after the earthquake and subsequent tsunami here in Japan. I was absolutely horrified until I learned why:
In many areas, residents were assured that they could return to their homes within a few days. For many, it seemed reasonable to tie up Rover with plenty of food and water.
Then, when radiation levels were found to be higher than acceptable, people were suddenly told that their areas were being closed off, and they weren’t allowed in. Pet owners went nuts. I can’t account for every doggie–and I do know that many didn’t make it–but I do know that rescue groups went in, gathered up tied-up dogs as well as those walking around, and brought them to makeshift shelters.
But that’s the only reason I’ve heard that could possibly explain leaving dogs tied up.
Sadly, too many people see pets as disposable playthings rather than a life-long responsibility. And once the kitten/puppy turns into a cat/dog, it’s no longer cute and cuddly, it’s just a big, annoying poop-factory. At least that’s my take on it. Some people are scum.
KinkiNipponTourist, are you aware of the amazing story of Matsumara Naoto? The only person left in the Fukushima exclusion zone, who is potentially sacrificing himself to care for the abandoned animals? “…some 400 cows, 60 pigs, 30 fowl, 10 dogs, more than 100 cats, and an ostrich.”
I understand that part of it. And the getting of the dog not 100% their fault, I submit. This is such a dog country that everyone TELLS you to get a dog. I’ve been told to get a dog 1000 times, pressured heavily, told how easy they are to take care of, how I NEED a cuddly doggy in my life right now. Now I am sensible and know I don’t want one and it’s way too much responsibility, but if you never had a dog you might think it’s so easy.
Now getting rid of it in the way they do is entirely their fault, but it’s doubly terrible to leave them chained up, as the OP says. At the very least unchain them so they can find their own damn food and maybe be rescued. Chaining a dog and leaving it is pretty goddamn horrible and completely indefensible.
I think a lot of people simply don’t even consider that animals are capable of suffering and that their suffering matters.
There are enough people out there who have trouble empathizing with other human beings and will do terrible things to other people. Not surprising that many of them have even less capacity to empathize with another species.
All they’re thinking about is “I don’t want to be bothered by this dog anymore” not really thinking at all about the consequences for the animal.
I have no idea. Can anyone explain to me how someone could abandon two weeks-old kittens? I mean, KITTENS? There is nothing on earth cuter than a 5 week old kitten, and some asshole moved out of an apartment,* took their mother* and left them behind. :mad:
Luckily for me, after I found them at the Animal Welfare League!
Apparently, the landlord found them and brought them to the AWL. <— which is what I think people are betting on.
I can’t really understand this either.My boyfriend had a roommate before that when my boyfriend had to go out of town for work, he wouldn’t feed or let the dog out to go to the bathroom, instead he would put the dog in a cage for the weekend and clean up the cage right before my boyfriend came home. My boyfriend would then get home to the dog that was just walked and fed, but acting a little strange. The roommate knew it was wrong, because when I caught on to it, and questioned him he swore on a bunch of things/ people that it wasn’t the case. All I could say is some people are incapable of seeing that an animal has feelings, or they simply don’t care. These people usually also don’t care or realize when they are hurting other people as well.
Another part of it is people think “Oh it’s a dog, they are supposed to be outside, they used to be wild animals” without realizing that, a beagle that was bought probably from some puppy mill is not the same as a wild dog, and either way if a wild dog was out in the same conditions wouldn’t be okay either.
The Setter rescue group I work with just finished cleaning up a situation in Tennessee; a hunting lodge had closed and abandoned a kennel full of 12 English Setters in their small runs. Left them to die in their own shit. Several of the dogs had to be euthanized due to their poor condition. The rest, I am happy to say, are now in loving foster homes, learning to be PETS for the first time in their lives, waiting for their forever homes.
I think the most cases of intentionally abandoning a dog come down to two categories. In one, the dog was already having a terrible life. He was being kept by people who didn’t care about him in the first place. In the second case, it’s even sadder. Here a dog is abandoned because people’s lives have completely broken down, and they can do only enough to care for themselves and not a dog. It would be easy to say that it takes very little to keep the dog and give him a little food, or take him to a shelter. But people’s lives do degrade to the point where in despair they don’t even think of such things, which is why it is so sad. If we can stand by and watch other humans in that condition, it isn’t so surprising that humans can treat dogs that way.
ETA: Reading PapSett’s post above, I’m also disgusted. There probably will be no justice for those actions.
A neighbor of mine left his cat in this condition, after he had to leave suddenly.
Of course, he left suddenly because he shot his wife in the face repeatedly, while forcing their children to watch. So, it kinda made sense in that case.
(The cat managed to escape and we adopted her. So it turned out ok)
ETA: ok for the cat. The situation was still fucked up, and my heart breaks for those poor kids. I didn’t mean to sound like that part didn’t matter.
I’ve read stories about dogs abandoned in apartments when the owners moved out and were found barely in time, just skin and bones.
But I’ve read worse and seen worse pictures: someone putting a firecracker in a dog’s mouth, taping its mouth shut and let it explode, taking the dog’s muzzle with it. I’ve read about and seen pictures of dogs that get dragged behind trucks for the fun of it.
I got somewhat pissed off with someone I know for this- a girl who was vegetarian on ethical grounds, had got thoroughly grumpy with me about my parents running a zoo (because it was sooo cruel), though she had a pet gecko.
A few months ago, she left for a year overseas, and less than a week before her departure, after all her stuff had been put in storage, after the farewell party, she posted up on facebook ‘Hey guys, can anyone take my gecko while I’m away?’
I mean yeah, she didn’t just leave it in a tank and bugger off, but geckos aren’t exactly ‘pot plant’ care level, and this was hardly a spur-of-the-moment trip. Especially with her attitude on other people’s animals. I’ve no idea who wound up with it, or whether they wanted a lizard.
Incidently, the same girl recently posted up ‘Anyone know how to care for a [some species of turtle]??’ On a year’s trip away. I don’t want to know…
The youngest of my three cats was just left on a porch by his previous owners when they moved away. Luckily a neighbor noticed he was still around, waiting on the porch, and took him to a rescue shelter.
Poor little guy is young, healthy, sweet and affectionate. If I had to give him up for some reason my friends would probably be competing for the chance to take him in. Or if I had no friends, he’s the kind of cat that easily gets adopted at a shelter. I just don’t understand it.
I’ve been involved in dog and cat rescue for over 35 years and I still don’t know why people do this. I’ve had many people tell me they’ve dropped animals off in the country believing this was the best way to find them homes. People have told me about hitting or beating their dogs, believing it is the best way to train or punish them. People have justified keeping their animals locked in garages or crates.
People have justified to me keeping their dogs chained or tied. They’ve justified breeding dogs with obvious physical flaws or health problems; they’ve justified breeding littermate to littermate. They’ve justified feeding the cheapest feed available.
While animal lovers may shudder at the thought of dogs and cats being treated this way, the folks doing these things thought their actions were, if not the best choice, at least morally acceptable.
But not one person has ever told me they moved away and left an animal locked in a dwelling or tied/chained to a tree. Given all the other actions they’ve admitted to or justified, I have to believe that people who abandon animals in this way must know it’s wrong.
