I was judgmental. It was hard not to be, seeing beautiful animals returned to us (or showing up stray, emaciated, and neglected, like the one pictured here) time after time because of predictable irresponsibility on the part of the humans.
One more time: Animal shelters are a last resort option for people who have no other choice but to surrender a pet. They are overcrowded, ill-funded, understaffed places of refuge for animals that truly have no other place to go. They are not vehicles for you to play head games with your ex-friends, ex-spouses, ex-landlords, or relatives who aren’t speaking to you. Accepting an animal costs the shelter time and money, not least because of mandatory procedures such as behavioral and medical screening, feeding, and cleaning. If you’ve got an animal that belongs to someone else you know, grow a pair and drop it off at their house instead of wasting resources that are better used on animals that REALLY need them. Thank you, and good night.
If keeping your pet IS an option, KEEP YOUR PET. An animal shelter is not a pawnshop where you can stow your best friend until you get back on your feet.
A month or so later, the dog in question was indeed returned to the shelter and euthanized. For some unaccountable reason, the fact that I was right did not make me feel better.
I vote we stop keeping the animals in cages, because it might remind veterans of their time in a POW camp.
Selene is not impressed with your micromanagement, sir.
