Neglect or Not?
Aug. 21st, 2004 02:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cinaedI got into a heated debate yesterday that lasted until 3 o'clock in the morning and made me feel nauseous. It also left me wondering.... How do you judge when someone's neglecting their animals?
My friend lives on an island where there are no animal shelters, no vet. A vet comes from the next island over comes to go his rounds every other month, but if a pet gets seriously ill at any other time, they'll die because the islanders can't afford the ferry to the next island. My friend says this is how it'll always be, that no one cares. She feeds half-wild animals and calls them her pets, even though she can't afford to give the 5 or 6 cats (please note that she couldn't even remember how many cats she apparently had as pets) a litterbox. They're expected, even in the winter, to go out into the snow and find some place to take their business. It's Alaska, people!
Now, my household, we're raised to treat pets as babies, as our own siblings who can't talk. Now, we're not obsessive and dress them in human clothes and take them everywhere, but we know they have their own personalities, can feel jealousy, loneliness, love, fear. We give them a litterbox, feed them every day, make sure they have a place to sleep whether it's inside or outside, take them to the vet every year, make sure they have ALL their vaccines..... And so on and so forth. To me, just feeding the animals doesn't make them your pets. It makes them strays that you just feed so they won't starve. If you domesticate them, then you domesticate them all the way and anything less is neglect. If you can't afford to take care of the animals, then don't get any pets. It's as simple as that.
My friend, however, insists that they are her pets and that I'm simply overreacting. She says no one cares about her island enough to do anything about the strays wandering about. I point to her House of Representative, who has just helped create an Alaskan animal rights law that will come into effect on September 28, 2004. She says he doesn't care about *her* island. I point to a special Alaskan organization that tries to raise money to do Spay/Neuter Days for free. She says they'll never do that for her island. She has totally given up on achieving anything more than a half-assed job on taking care of the animals on the island.
Now, maybe I'm being a busybody and sticking my nose where I don't belong. I've already had one of her friends tell me that the girl "has the right to do anything with her pets." Maybe I'm just as big a fanatic as the crazy PETA I've heard so much about. Maybe I'm being stupid. Maybe I have too high of standards when it comes to animal care.
But you know what? *My* cats live to be 17 and 18. *My* dogs live to be 16 when their breed only lives 'til 10. *My* animals are healthy and have cheerful personalities and *don't* randomly get violently ill like hers does. Based with these facts, I can't help but think I'm right. And, no matter if I'm right or wrong, it still breaks my heart, thinking of the poor animals on my friend's island, discarded by the inhabitants and left to beg for scraps or attack humans because they're that desperate for food.
*gets off my soap box*
~~Annclaire
****
"Listen - what people do to their souls
They take their lives - destroy their goals
Their basic pride and dignity
Is stripped and torn and shown to pity
When this should be heaven for everyone....."
My friend lives on an island where there are no animal shelters, no vet. A vet comes from the next island over comes to go his rounds every other month, but if a pet gets seriously ill at any other time, they'll die because the islanders can't afford the ferry to the next island. My friend says this is how it'll always be, that no one cares. She feeds half-wild animals and calls them her pets, even though she can't afford to give the 5 or 6 cats (please note that she couldn't even remember how many cats she apparently had as pets) a litterbox. They're expected, even in the winter, to go out into the snow and find some place to take their business. It's Alaska, people!
Now, my household, we're raised to treat pets as babies, as our own siblings who can't talk. Now, we're not obsessive and dress them in human clothes and take them everywhere, but we know they have their own personalities, can feel jealousy, loneliness, love, fear. We give them a litterbox, feed them every day, make sure they have a place to sleep whether it's inside or outside, take them to the vet every year, make sure they have ALL their vaccines..... And so on and so forth. To me, just feeding the animals doesn't make them your pets. It makes them strays that you just feed so they won't starve. If you domesticate them, then you domesticate them all the way and anything less is neglect. If you can't afford to take care of the animals, then don't get any pets. It's as simple as that.
My friend, however, insists that they are her pets and that I'm simply overreacting. She says no one cares about her island enough to do anything about the strays wandering about. I point to her House of Representative, who has just helped create an Alaskan animal rights law that will come into effect on September 28, 2004. She says he doesn't care about *her* island. I point to a special Alaskan organization that tries to raise money to do Spay/Neuter Days for free. She says they'll never do that for her island. She has totally given up on achieving anything more than a half-assed job on taking care of the animals on the island.
Now, maybe I'm being a busybody and sticking my nose where I don't belong. I've already had one of her friends tell me that the girl "has the right to do anything with her pets." Maybe I'm just as big a fanatic as the crazy PETA I've heard so much about. Maybe I'm being stupid. Maybe I have too high of standards when it comes to animal care.
But you know what? *My* cats live to be 17 and 18. *My* dogs live to be 16 when their breed only lives 'til 10. *My* animals are healthy and have cheerful personalities and *don't* randomly get violently ill like hers does. Based with these facts, I can't help but think I'm right. And, no matter if I'm right or wrong, it still breaks my heart, thinking of the poor animals on my friend's island, discarded by the inhabitants and left to beg for scraps or attack humans because they're that desperate for food.
*gets off my soap box*
~~Annclaire
****
"Listen - what people do to their souls
They take their lives - destroy their goals
Their basic pride and dignity
Is stripped and torn and shown to pity
When this should be heaven for everyone....."
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no subject
Date: 2004-08-21 11:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-08-22 03:39 am (UTC)My kitties are my babies. I'm bringing Dude to college with me tomorrow (fuck the "no pets except fish" rule - I live in a big house, I take care of my animals, and there's no good reason why I shouldn't have a kitty with me), and I'm going to spoil him rotten. He's such a sweet kitty, he deserves it. *grins* I'm such a cat lady...
no subject
Date: 2004-08-22 04:01 pm (UTC)On a more amusing note, now I can threaten my cats whenever they're being naughty with, "If you don't shape up, I'm sendin' you to Alaska!"
~Ace
no subject
Date: 2004-08-22 04:06 pm (UTC)Yeah, "no pets except fish" sucks. 'Course, I have the immortal fish. He was only supposed to live a year or two, and he's been around for, um, six? He's still nameless, though -- I'm paranoid that if we actually give him a name, he'll flop over and die. Dude sounds like he's a cute kitty. *grins*
~Ace