Daily Happenings from poetsareangels

Animals Are Our Friends, Not Our Targets! By Felina Silver Robinson

A friend of mine who is an amazing teacher in a local school posted on Facebook that over the weekend some heartless person decided to pour vinegar in the water bottle of her gerbil cage. The gerbils did not survive. This was a class pet which of course brought comfort to the students. There was no reason for such an act. It was also said that this same person poured vinegar into a fish tank in another classroom. The police believe that the act may have been committed by children because they found a door open. I beg to different to be honest. Students know that the doors are locked on weekends. I can’t see kids going to every door to see if one is unlocked. It makes more sense that a disgruntled employee with a beef of sorts took it upon themselves to commit this heinous act.

Lately, people have chosen to commit such violent acts against animals, sometimes their very own pets fall victim to their random acts of violence.This is uncalled for. We must find a way to stop this madness. When I was in elementary school, 6th grade to be exact, some of the 8th grade boys decided to put a cherry bomb in the mouth of a local stray cat. They figured it was ok because the cat was a stray and no one would miss it. But of course everyone did because everyone took turns feeding it.

There are a bunch of stories I could tell you, but I will share this last one. A few years ago our family rescued a dog that was a victim of the floods. We were told that he was very friendly, good with kids, house trained, and got along well with other pets. The second day we had the dog, we noticed that he was nipping at anyone who would pay attention to our four cats. He would urinate anywhere and everywhere in the house. He would sometimes defecate where he pleased. This was not because the dog wasn’t getting walked. Because this dog was pretty darn lucky to be receiving all the love and attention he got. He received more walks than any other dog in the neighborhood. My young daughter even rode him around in the basket of her bike. One day his actions just took a final toll. We had a family gathering and everyone spent time with the pets both separately and in a group. The dog didn’t like that he had to share attention with the other animals. He proceeded to urinate all the way down the hall then climbed up on the kitchen table and defecated on one of my younger daughters brand new place mat that was given as a holiday gift. That was the straw that broke the camels back. The next morning, I called up the rescue league and had the dog returned to the shelter. I never struck the dog out of anger or even yelled at it. The poor abused animal just needed the training it had obviously never received after it was traumatized.

What I’ve outlined here is obviously not a new problem. It’s a longstanding one that no one cares enough about until it happens to their own pet. The saying “It takes a village to raise a child” should also apply in this situation. “It takes a village to keep our pets safe from harms reach.” If you care, report abuse when you see it or hear about it. Don’t let defenseless animals fall victim to the abuses of socially and emotionally inept people. If you are at all curious, here is an article that might interest you: Animal Cruelty Facts and Statistics: Statistics on the victims and current law trends.

I hope that fewer people turn their backs to the violence and more lend a hand to stop “animal cruelty”!