Writer's Block: Pet central
Writer's Block: Some animal rights activists are fighting to replace the term 'owner' with 'guardian' to convey a more balanced relationship between a person and her or his pet. Do you agree or disagree with the importance of this mission?
I am all for trying to ensure that animals are properly taken care of. I don't want to see them abused in any way, and I think that it's good we are looking out for them.
HOWEVER! I think that it gets overdone when we are willing to let human beings starve in our cities because we'd rather give dog food to the shelter instead of food to the food pantry. I wonder if any of them would mind if I gave their dog a $100 to buy dog food when they can't pay their mortgage or keep their electricity on. There are issues in my city, let alone the US and the world that need our attention, and I think that changing titles is a waste of time and energy.
i would also like to see adoption groups who are trying to place animals relax their standards a little. Here, at least, if you admit to ever having a dog or cat that was primarily kept outside, you are "declined" by the staff of our very overcrowded, no kill shelter, despite whatever your current plans are for your new animal. A friend of mine was declined because she had an outside dog as a kid, my family was declined because we had a new baby and the staff didn't feel that any of the 7 dogs, nor any of the puppies in the abandoned littler, should be in a house that would soon contain a wandering infant. Hello, people! Isn't a home better than the shelter? Instead, we ended up buying a dog from a breeder, when we would have much rather rescued. My favorite part was when they asked us for a donation to the shelter after declining us for an adoption!
I am all for trying to ensure that animals are properly taken care of. I don't want to see them abused in any way, and I think that it's good we are looking out for them.
HOWEVER! I think that it gets overdone when we are willing to let human beings starve in our cities because we'd rather give dog food to the shelter instead of food to the food pantry. I wonder if any of them would mind if I gave their dog a $100 to buy dog food when they can't pay their mortgage or keep their electricity on. There are issues in my city, let alone the US and the world that need our attention, and I think that changing titles is a waste of time and energy.
i would also like to see adoption groups who are trying to place animals relax their standards a little. Here, at least, if you admit to ever having a dog or cat that was primarily kept outside, you are "declined" by the staff of our very overcrowded, no kill shelter, despite whatever your current plans are for your new animal. A friend of mine was declined because she had an outside dog as a kid, my family was declined because we had a new baby and the staff didn't feel that any of the 7 dogs, nor any of the puppies in the abandoned littler, should be in a house that would soon contain a wandering infant. Hello, people! Isn't a home better than the shelter? Instead, we ended up buying a dog from a breeder, when we would have much rather rescued. My favorite part was when they asked us for a donation to the shelter after declining us for an adoption!