Saturday, September 24, 2011

Four Paws Up for Toronto



If I could, I'd bring every one of these cats and dogs here to Casa la Dumpa and give them a safe home full of love and laughter. Once, they thought they had that—until they suddenly found themselves abandoned, physically abused, turned out in a strange world they could not survive in by themselves. Some, the "lucky" ones, found themselves in a kill shelter, and even luckier ones were rescued from the shelters by wonderful people dedicated to rehabilitating these little creatures and finding them safe homes full of love and laughter.

Nevertheless, in 2009 forty-thousand dogs and cats were put down—killed—in New York City alone.

Are the puppy mills (and the pet stores who sell the mills' "products" for outrageous prices) solely responsible for pet overpopulation? No. There are the home breeders who hope to make a bundle on a litter of puppies or kittens, and the dumb shits who allow their unfixed pets to roam at night and come home knocked up. Oops, four to eight more unwanted kittens to deal with, what do we do?

Toronto can't solve all the problems of overpopulation, but they're sure as hell on the right track. The city has planted a seed, and hopefully it will germinate in other cities. And towns. And villages. All over the world. Yes, there are terrible things happening all over the globe, humans doing horrible things to humans, but never let us do horrible things to mans' best friends, maybe the only friends we have left.


11 comments:

hope said...

It's nice to see someone thinking pro-active instead of, "How do we clean up this mess?"

My sis-in-law works for the local SPCA and one of her duties is to take photos of the animals at the shelter for adoption. In the past, the photos looked like mug shots: animals against a concrete block wall, next to a cage. She bought a variety of backgrounds and matches them to the animal: photos of hunting dogs against camo patterns, cats with paw print backgrounds. So far, as soon as the photo comes out in the paper, there are LOTS of calls to adopt.

All it takes is a little caring and common sense. :)

Pat said...

Toronto seems to have made a good move. May others follow. Hi Charlie dear:)

barbara said...

I'm not entirely sure it's a city ordinance, but here in Calgary, pet stores have stopped selling cats and dogs altogether.

DJan Stewart said...

Well said, Charlie. I think it's wonderful what Toronto is doing. I only wish more cities would do the same. It's always wonderful to see you pop up in my Reader.

Fay said...

Oh, Baby, Baby, you hit that one home, home, home. In fact, why do we even need to sell dogs and cats at pet stores? Blanche, my editor and exercise coach, came from a shelter. She actually had just arrived when I brought her home. She had had many, many babies and needed a hysterectomy badly, poor dear. Well, Blanche is a "lady of a certain age" now, mostly deaf and not really good at seeing, and she limps. She's on a hand full of prescription meds now. But she is super at what she does. Continues to work long days, inspiring her daddy with snores from under his desk. She no longer goes to the groomer because it scared her. So now she gets her hair dos at home. I'm still getting the hang of the clippers, but she doesn't mind a shag hair cut. In fact, she's so gorgeous, she is one of the few ladies I know who can pull it off. It makes me sick to think of how she was treated before she found me at that shelter. We're doing everything we can to make up for it.
Hats off to Toronto and to you, Dear Charlie. Blanche says thanks for bringing to everyones attention. She'd have done it herself, but her typing is limited.

Charlie Callahan said...

Here is a true mug shot of our boy Irish. As bad as it is, we fell in love with that face. I agree with you, though: a better presentation will lead to more inquiries. Problem is, people are too busy for caring and there's a real shortage of common sense.

Charlie Callahan said...

Hi Pat! I hope YTL is doing well.

Thanks for the thumbs up to Toronto and you're right, may others follow.

Charlie Callahan said...

Way to go, Calgary!

PetSmart, a large pet suppy chain, has never sold cats and dogs. Rather, on weekends, they allow rescue organizations to bring a few critters that are ready for adoption. Martha almost got a playmate for Irish, but someone got there first.

Uh, zombies don't mess with critters, do they?

Charlie Callahan said...

Thanks, Jan—it's always nice to read a comment from you.

You know, if I was younger and in better health, I would adopt this subject as my personal cause. I can't save mankind, but I might be able to save a few beautiful pets.

Charlie Callahan said...

That's okay if you typed for Blanche (great name)—she sounds busy enough as it is. And she sounds like a wonderful "lady" too.

You said something I've never thought of before: "We're doing everything we can to make up for it." I guess we try to prove to these animals that not all humans are assholes.

Meg said...

That is AWESOME! I wish they would do that in my area. There are so many shelters in our small county. We saved three rescue dogs (one unfortunately died of Parvo after only a week, poor thing). Our cats were rescues, too. Our next pets will also be rescues. The way I see it, is that animal abuse is the same thing as child abuse. Either way, you're taking an innocent creature that depends on you and neglecting or mistreating it. I recently visited a zoo where they are doing the same sort of thing with exotics. It's sad that people want luxury pets, like iguanas and cougars, and then toss them out when they realize those animals weren't meant to be pets.