I read it minutes before it was flagged for removal. I'm not sure why someone would flag it, but it really got to me, and I felt like it deserved to be read. Deserved to be reposted. I love dogs. I had a dog for most of my childhood, and she only passed away back in 2005. I actually would love to get a dog now. I've been in shelters and it's one of the most depressing places I've ever set foot in.
Wow that breaks my heart. As an animal lover, I wanted to stop reading after the first paragraph, but as an animal lover, I had to read the whole thing. This issue gets to me way more than anything having to do with homeless people, panhandlers, what have you. That's just me. The fact that this goes on is just so sad. If I ever get rich I know where my money is going. I could write a wall of text but I'm just gonna go hang out with my cat instead. Thanks for posting this, even though it was hard to swallow.
We recently adopted a kitten from the San Diego SPCA and animal shelter. I don't know if they destroy animals there, but we saw plenty of older animals (cats and dogs). The place is amazing. They have lots of people who donate anywhere from $3000 to $10M (there's a list of such donors on the wall). The place is enormous and made of marble, like a 5 star hotel in some resort. The cats have their own rooms, complete with furniture, as if they were living in someone's home. I guess it helps them be used to such conditions, or if they're returned by some owner, they have something like home to live in. They had some animals in cages, but the cages were connected so the animals could move from one to another. We had to sign a contract to adopt the cat. The contract requires us to return the cat to the shelter if we can't keep him. We've never returned an animal to a shelter like that so it's irrelevant. Adopting an animal is a commitment on our part for the life of the animal. We adopted a cat from the Lied Animal Shelter in Vegas about 3 years ago. They don't destroy animals, but the conditions were rather cruel. The cats were basically in a big tent in the desert, in cages stacked 4 tall, and all of them were sick with Upper Respiratory Infection of some kind or another. They did give the animals medicine, which is good, but it is clearly near impossible to keep them all from getting sick. We spent about $500 in vet bills on the cat we adopted during the first two weeks we had him. He's alive and well today and an awesome cat - everyone who comes over loves him. We adopted an older cat in Maui. That was the worst animal shelter I think I have seen. They do try to make the facilities nice, but they're unquestionably overwhelmed by the sheer number of animals and the lack of people to adopt them. People move from Maui and just leave their pets outside, and they become feral. On certain days you would drive by the shelter and smell the stench of burning fur and it didn't take much to guess what was going on.
I have owned 5 big dogs in my time. All came from the Humane Society and all were excellent dogs. I support their work.
I don't see why that should be removed. Funnily enough, I've never adopted a cat from a shelter. All the cats who have owned me just arrived. All were stray or feral. My cat from college died and 10 days later a friend found a pair of sisters thrown down a dry well near the school where she taught. When one cat died after a long life, a few months later my current cat Orlando walked up to me and said he was moving in. Then his sister's two kittens joined. After my old kitty died, an abandoned cat arrived, alas, he did not survive long. But I hate it when people say they have to dump their animals. To me they are family. Would you throw away your child to move into a child-free home? When your kids get older and bigger, do you get rid of them because they eat too much or take up too much space or are no longer cute and little? When you move, do you leave your children in the backyard to fend for themselves?
