Pedigree Query

http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/news/397/309034.html

We live in a very rural section and over the past three years we've been seeing more and more pets (cats and dogs) dropped off at the end of ours and neighboring farm's drives. Just recently, a farm up the road received anonymously two goats, which the last time I checked had not been caught and who had grazed into their vegetable garden.

I just got blasted off a facebook page yesterday. It was a page showing the pictures and listing the names and addresses/phone numbers of Kill Pen buyers. After I had warned the page creator that he/she could be in trouble if any of those people were harassed and it was traced back to them. I said in a post if you don't like horse related events that use horses for entertainment- don't go, stop funding it. And not to harrass these people because they were doing the jobs they had chosen.

Well I just about got called ever name in the book and have been labeled an animal abuser, I slaughter all my animals after they are used up, I have no regard for life.. etc. It is ME who is irresponsibley breeding. Which I thought all was awesome. My pensioned "used up" mares who had all had their massage/chiro that afternoon would have agreed Life just sucks for a Thoroughbred. My starving/neglected horses only ate $15k of grain last month.. We must abuse the heck out of horses to have a 25k vet bill... hmm..

Point being, after reading the comments from this English article they seem more level headed about their population surplus (beside the comment blaming the travelers.. ) and how to handle a horse that may not have the best life. Even though the foals mentioned were being treated for injuries, they seem to give the impression "We know not every horse is going to be sound in mind/body so why not put them to sleep"..

It maybe me, but I see that as a better life than standing out in a field forgetten for 25+ years, or being shipped to an auction.

Maybe that's just me,, the animal abuser..

Crystal: Those who blasted you off the website will be singing a different tune when they realize they are spending more on their pets and horses than they are on themselves or their families.

We live in a rural county that is between two medium size cities. A couple of times a month, I'll see a strange car driving slowly along ours or nearby roads looking for a place to pull over and drop something off. I'm never surprised when I see a small dog or cat wandering down the road looking for someone to feed them.

If they come up our drive, if it is dog, I'll gather it up and take it to a "no kill" shelter that is in the county. They have been sending orphan dogs and cats up to New York and New England. I guess there is a demand for pets up there. If a cat has been dropped off at our place, I just let it join the other barn cats that have retired here. We don't have a mice or rat problem. So I'm glad to have them.

Back in the 1968 and 1969, as a Marine in Vietnam, I noticed that there were no stray dogs or cats in the villages. They were all at the market.

This really isn't news. People have been dumping horses for a while esp on the Oregon Nv border to join the " Wild mustangs"
Its been going on for years now. Shammy and to others out there that are shocked that animals are being dumped... there are NO FINES for this. NONE
And the gov abolished the chance of castration in the " Wild Mustangs" which are just a mix of breeds now thanks to many many irresponsible idiots that don't take care of their animals.
People dumps their pets ( dogs and cats) out into the wild and expect them to survive.

Karen, no one is shocked, and we all know this happens to many different types of critters.. I see that article as this is something happening around the globe as well. It is the economic times we live in.. People think they are doing something right when they couldn't be more wrong. And anyone who has said something to the folks causing mass hysteria gets labeled a pro-slaughter supporter, when it is further from the truth.

My "road dogs" and not loved any less than my papered dog, or my barn cat. They are all spoiled, but thats just me. I have never found the decision hard to make about buying pet food or my own food. Until they get jobs.. I do without.. LOL

There has been "pet dumping" forever.. my best old cat was a "side of the road kitten" who crawled out of a bag in a creek 13 years ago as I was driving down a rural, middle of nowhere, stretch of road in Sellersburg Indiana.

Karen: Nothing shocks me anymore. I just thought it was interesting that House and Hound was reporting it. I agree with Crystal that it appears that the UK looks very sensibly at the situation. What is odd is that the UK banished foxhunting from public lands. Go figure. Pet dumping, like Madelyn suggests, has been going on for a very long time. Sadly, it increases substantially during poor economic times.

goats are in demand and are bringing $2.00 a pound on the hoof at local livestock auctions..

Compare that with $1.25 a pound feeder calves who seem to be more than skin bones and guts.

By the way, all you need to do to catch the goats is build a pen and leave feed it in. In a week they will run over you to get ate the feed, and then you close the gate.


griff

madelyn wrote:There has been "pet dumping" forever.. my best old cat was a "side of the road kitten" who crawled out of a bag in a creek 13 years ago as I was driving down a rural, middle of nowhere, stretch of road in Sellersburg Indiana.

Having grown up in a rural area, I will give some perspective to "forever": when I was a kid in the 1960s, just about every other dog we had and most of our cats had been dumped. Luckily for those animals that wandered into our farmstead, we had a large barn and always seemed to have room for one more.

This is NOT about a poor economy. It's about people who are utterly lacking in responsibility.

The ultimate in pet dumping occurred this week in OH. The owner of large wild animal preserve release 51 or so tigers, lions, bears, cougars, monkeys, et al and then commits suicide.

We find out later that the owner and his wife were up to their ears in debt besides being mentally unstable. Jack Hanna says OH has very weak laws dealing with these preserves and the brokering and sale of large predatory animals not common to the OH environment.

Hanna revealed that the late owner's sister call him to say that her brother and his wife "loved" animals.

Yea, for some (now dead after being shot by police) they loved them to death. Hannah reported that some of the lions and tigers were kept in cages that are normally used by zoos to house birds.

Hanna says the OH Governor is now working on legislation to restrict and govern operations like this. Let's hope they don't take as long as our President and Congress are on fixing the economy or OH could be renamed Wild Safari. KY, IN, WV, and PA could be the next entrances to largest wild animal theme park in the world, formerly known as OH.

Apparently, no one is sure how many animals were on the preserve. Hopefully for OH and the surrounding states, they can come up with an accurate count.

Yes, this whole story is unbelievable. First, to be legally permitted to own these animals, obviously not properly caged or cared for, within close proximity to residential areas and a school...just anarchy in Ohio!!

Then the guy releases them to a certain death, which sadly occured because of the shooting/killing of most of them by police to secure the safety of the public.

Why the owner couldn't ask a zoo to take them or some other option is beyond me.

Crazy. Obviously Ohio has learned the hard way. Well.....hopefully learned!

dkras wrote:Yes, this whole story is unbelievable. First, to be legally permitted to own these animals, obviously not properly caged or cared for, within close proximity to residential areas and a school...just anarchy in Ohio!!

Then the guy releases them to a certain death, which sadly occured because of the shooting/killing of most of them by police to secure the safety of the public.

Why the owner couldn't ask a zoo to take them or some other option is beyond me.

Crazy. Obviously Ohio has learned the hard way. Well.....hopefully learned!

People noticed the wild animals were loose when some of them were sighted in a pasture with horses...this release was done just before dusk. Incredibly stupid, incredibly irresponsible. Law enforcement had no other option than to kill them as quickly as possible before they spread out.