I started this blog last night and honestly didn't know what I was getting myself into.
I began researching animal cruelty and found a list of animal cruelty "glossary" on the ASPCA (American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) website. Even as someone who feels fairly aware of animal issues, there were still types of abuse I wasn't familiar with - terms that represent shocking and awful actions toward animals.
The whole concept was too overwhelming and I couldn't wrap my head around it all enough to write a blog, so I gave myself a day to think about it all.
I read the headlines from the last couple weeks: "Kitten trapped in tied grocery bag, abandoned" ... "Groundhog staked to railroad tracks" ... "Police dogs die in hot car" ... "6-month-old dog repeatedly slashed in the face" ... "13 horses seized, 2 found with testicles tied to tails." (http://www.pet-abuse.com/).
There are so many kinds of animal abuse vividly present in our country: neglect, hoarding, mutilation, abandonment, throwing, stabbing, beating.
It's sickening, but just as troubling is the fact that our country doesn't take it very seriously.
Idaho, Mississippi, North Dakota and South Dakota still do not recognize animal cruelty as a felony, but even in states that do, the punishment rarely fits the crime.
Two men tethered, starved, and severely neglected 26 pit bulls in Georgia. The men used the dogs for breeding and for fighting one another to the death. The owner and caretaker were sentenced to five years and one year in prison, respectively, with probation.
I originally read this case in the Spring 2011 edition of ASPCA Action. This story was under "successes," and in a lot of ways because the individuals were actually convicted, I suppose it is a success. Still, the sentences seem like nothing for that type of treatment.
The fact that animal cruelty is not treated like a true crime, is not only a hard thing for animal lovers to swallow ... it's flat out stupid.
Common sense would tell anyone that a person who would hurt an animal would also hurt a human - it's a way of having control, of making something powerless.
A New Jersey study found that 88 percent of families where there was violence against children, there was also violence against animals (http://www.aspca.org/fight-animal-cruelty/domestic-violence-and-animal-cruelty.aspx).
I didn't find a single study that diminished the connection between animal cruelty and other crimes.
One study found that animal abusers are five times more likely to commit violent crimes against people (SPCA and Norheastern University, 1997), and as far back as the 1970s, the FBI made the connection that most serial killers had killed or tortured animals as children.
These individuals need serious counseling, they need to be charged with these crimes, and they need aggressive repercussions. As a society, we need to make it clear that animal abuse is not acceptable.
I could continue on this topic - and it may at some point merit another blog posting - but what I truly want people to know is that whether you chose to open your eyes to it or not, animal cruelty is all over our country. It is happening every day.
And nothing will stop until we open our eyes and stand up against it.
July 13, 2011
July 11, 2011
Fostering: Not as Hard as it Seems!
Before I fostered for the first time, my biggest concern was how I would possibly be able to let a dog go after bonding with it so much. The idea alone kept me from fostering for years.
Then, one day I decided to do it - not because I planned to, but because it just happened.
The puppy rescue I was volunteering for had a puppy that needed a home for the week until the next adoption and my boyfriend, our pugs, kitty and I offered up our home. He came in as puppy #400-something and was soon Kona to us. When it came time to take him to the adoption event, we cried a lot - in a short week he had become part of our family.
I volunteered at the event and the first woman to come through the gates asked for Kona - she held him and I told her about the sweetheart we'd grown to love. She told me when she'd seen him on the website she knew he was the one and cuddled him in her arms - at that moment, I seemed to know that she was the right home for Kona, too.
Seeing Kona go to his forever home was one of the best feelings I've had to this day. And to know that we had a part in helping him get there felt even better.
We've fostered three dogs since then and will continue to do it as much as we can. There are so many benefits to fostering an animal, and it truly gives them a second chance at life.
Fostering allows animals to get out of the shelter environment and into a home, where they can be socialized and, in turn, makes them more adoptable because the animal's behavior is more attune to how potential adopters want them to be in their own home. It's also great for your animals because it exposes them to something new, gives them a new buddy to play with, and can keep them young (or calm them down) depending on the other animal.
The biggest benefit: fostering truly saves animals.
Shelters are overburdened and overflowing - when a dog is fostered, it frees up a cage and allows the shelter to save another animal from the streets, from abuse, or from euthanasia. Shelters and rescues need your help, it's never too late, too early, too often, or too infrequent to foster - anything you can offer will make a difference.
Plus, it's truly not as hard as it seems. Yes, you'll grow to love the animal you foster - I almost guarantee it - but when you play a role in helping that animal find their forever family, it will be entirely worth it.
Then, one day I decided to do it - not because I planned to, but because it just happened.
The puppy rescue I was volunteering for had a puppy that needed a home for the week until the next adoption and my boyfriend, our pugs, kitty and I offered up our home. He came in as puppy #400-something and was soon Kona to us. When it came time to take him to the adoption event, we cried a lot - in a short week he had become part of our family.
I volunteered at the event and the first woman to come through the gates asked for Kona - she held him and I told her about the sweetheart we'd grown to love. She told me when she'd seen him on the website she knew he was the one and cuddled him in her arms - at that moment, I seemed to know that she was the right home for Kona, too.
Seeing Kona go to his forever home was one of the best feelings I've had to this day. And to know that we had a part in helping him get there felt even better.
We've fostered three dogs since then and will continue to do it as much as we can. There are so many benefits to fostering an animal, and it truly gives them a second chance at life.
Fostering allows animals to get out of the shelter environment and into a home, where they can be socialized and, in turn, makes them more adoptable because the animal's behavior is more attune to how potential adopters want them to be in their own home. It's also great for your animals because it exposes them to something new, gives them a new buddy to play with, and can keep them young (or calm them down) depending on the other animal.
The biggest benefit: fostering truly saves animals.
Shelters are overburdened and overflowing - when a dog is fostered, it frees up a cage and allows the shelter to save another animal from the streets, from abuse, or from euthanasia. Shelters and rescues need your help, it's never too late, too early, too often, or too infrequent to foster - anything you can offer will make a difference.
Plus, it's truly not as hard as it seems. Yes, you'll grow to love the animal you foster - I almost guarantee it - but when you play a role in helping that animal find their forever family, it will be entirely worth it.
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