Im former Animal Control officer. Yes, it is true BUT they [organizations] against the idea because of numbers of disablities people who is in need of dogs to guide. Well, i cannot do anything because im TIRED to catching those stray dogs everyday. TOO MANY dogs that are strays show up at shelter, i had to contact owners everyday to find it out why did it happened. Most of time, they kept say, "loose gate" or "dig out from the hole" or "it is accident let dog go" or even, "That dog isnt mine, somebody put collar on that dog". The percentage of those incidents are lied from owners because they AVOID to pay the fines. Yes, im tired of stray dogs. Why cant they just simply to be RESPONSIBLE to well take care of dogs as like their own children.
Good thing, i left and become teacher, also, less worry for me to go out to chase stray dogs.
These people are extremely irresponsible if they say shit like "that dog isn't mine, someone put that collar on that dog"...and then refuse to pay the fine.
Obviously they don't care about the poor dog. Now the dog is homeless and might even be euthanized if no one comes and adopts the dog and there is not enough room at the shelter and because the dog's original owners doesn't care enough to pay the fine.
That is really sad.
If I had a dog that accidentally got out somehow and it had my name and address on his/her collar, I would definitely take the responsibility for it and go down to the shelter and pay the fine and retrieve the dog, and I would ask questions as to what I can do to improve things so that there would be less chances of my dog getting out again. Dogs and cats are like children, we should love them and take care of them as if they were our own children...why did they get the dog or the cat in the first place? So they would have somebody to love, like a child. I have cats and they are like my own children to me, and I would never say shit like that if one of my cats got out and the shelter called me and said they had my cat and that I would need to go down to the shelter, pay the fine, and come get my cat. I would definitely say, "sure" and I would run down to the shelter as fast as I could and pay the fine and profusely thank them over and over again for calling me and for finding my cat, and get my cat back because I love my cats with all my heart. I would do the same if I had a dog, too. I consider my animals my own children. They mean the world to me. I also keep ALL my cats indoors 24/7/365 and I am very careful not to let my cats escape. I constantly check on my cats to make sure they are all in my apartment. I do it when I get up, and then before I go out somewhere, and then when I come back I check again, and then a couple more times and then again before I go to bed.
I would call bullshit on the owners who lie and say that someone else put the collar with their name and address on the dog. Why in the world would someone else do that to a dog that isn't even theirs in the first place? That's really dumb. It makes me so mad!
I care so much about all kinds of animals and I cannot stand people who would not bother to get their pets back just because they do not want to pay the fine. I would pay the fine if I was them, because my pet means so much to me, even if the fine was $500 or even $1000, I would pay it to get my pet back. That's how much my pets mean to me.
I wonder if these people knows or even realizes that animals are often euthanized everyday at the shelters because there are simply not enough room and the shelters are often very overcrowded. I used to go to the Humane Society back in Minnesota and they have a whiteboard on the wall that says how many has been surrendered, how many has been adopted out, and also how many has been euthanized today. Like for example:
Animals surrendered today: 11
Animals adopted today: 8
Animals euthanized today: 14
They do this to try to make the people who do come visit the Humane Society realize how serious the situation is at the shelter there and at many other shelters elsewhere.
It breaks my heart when I see how many animals has been euthanized each day. It is not fair. They do get euthanized, even if they are healthy. This happens a LOT here in San Antonio, more than back in Minnesota. I noticed the situation here is a lot worse here in Texas than back in Minnesota, and therefore I can't bear to visit the Humane Society nor the Animal Defense League or the other animal shelters around the city anymore. It is a very sad situation. It is SO sad that, when I see a stray dog or cat, I don't call the animal control on them because I do not want them to end up being euthanized. The library down the street from me feeds the stray cats all the time cause they know the stray cats can fend for themselves on their own as long as they do get fed by the library. If I had the kind of money, I would definitely do T/N/R (or whatever it is called - Trap/Neuter (or spay)/Release. That way they do not end up being euthanized at the animal shelter, and they can just live outdoors on their own, but won't be able to procreate anymore, therefore attempting to reduce the population of stray cats and dogs. Many people do this. But not everyone can do this because the people who do this have to pay the costs of neutering and spaying and the resulting vet bills from the neutering/spaying (meds, equipment used to neuter/spay, etc). It's expensive, so not everyone can do it, unfortunately.
When I moved down here from Minnesota I was very surprised at the number of stray cats here! In Minnesota I have only seen a stray cat only once in a great while. But here, there are so many. When I walk to the library I will see up to about 6 or 8 cats sitting in the shade in a corner at the side of the library. And I often see many cats walking through the parking lot of my apartment complex, with no collars at all, and they are usually strays because I like to pet cats (I know I shouldn't pet them because of risk of fleas but I can't help it), and most often run away from me, which usually means they are feral/stray cats who are not used to humans. Sometimes I do find a cat that likes to be petted, but it breaks my heart because I cannot keep that cat because I already have the maximum number of cats allowed in my apartment (as it says in the fine print of my lease). So I just pet it, sometimes spend a little time with the cat, and sometimes I give it treats or food if it looks skinny or seems hungry. It is truly a sad situation, but I won't call animal control because ALL the shelters here in the city are OVERCROWDED and if I do call the animal control, I am afraid the cat will end up being euthanized, or if the cat is added to the population of the cats already at the shelter, one of the cats that is already there will end up being euthanized to make room for the new cat. I don't think that is fair. So, all I can do is feed the cat, and then let it go on its way. The only time I will ever call animal control is if I see an animal being abused or being quite neglected. I had to do this a few weeks ago, sadly, because I saw this woman with two dogs, two poodles who both looked to be about six months old, who were VERY dirty and covered in dog shit (I could smell it) and the woman was stuffing the dogs into a very small carrier that was designed for guinea pigs. She was at the bus stop. I was worried that she was neglecting the dogs and she shouldn't be stuffing two poodles of that size into a carrier that was small enough for two guinea pigs. I was shocked.
Someday when I am healthier (after having my back and my hips fixed) and am cleared to work again, and if I get paid well enough, I will hopefully start my own T/N/R program, maybe do a couple animals a month, depending on how many I can afford, and I would also as well have the feral/spray cats/dogs vaccinated for rabies as well too. And some places do a program where they can provide low-cost spaying/neutering for the cats and the dogs once or twice a year. People should take advantage of this program if they are on a fixed income. I think they cost like about $25 for cats and maybe $50 for dogs, not sure, but that is cheap. But honestly, I am not sure of the exact cost of spaying/neutering with this program, as I have never used this program. My first cat was already neutered when he came to me (from a friend of a friend who couldn't keep him) and the second cat was spayed when she had a surgery to remove her mammary tumors - ALL her female parts were removed as well, not just a simple spay - so I paid a hell of a lot for that, but fortunately I was able to pay half up front and then pay the rest on a monthly payment.
I definitely do not want to work in an animal shelters here because so many animals get euthanized and I do not want to be there to see that, it would make me so sad and make me so depressed. I would love to work with animals since I love animals, but I cannot work in animal shelters if there are so many being euthanized even if they are healthy. It's not fair. Too heart-wrenching for me. I can't handle it.
So I have decided I am satisfied with just having my own cats.
Sorry I wrote a novel, but I have a lot of opinions!
