I am a sucker for animals, so I think this is a great idea. The Anne Arundel County Fire Department is now stocking oxygen masks for pets on ambulances. If you click on the link and look closely at the picture, you will notice a dog mannequin in the back of the ambulance. Unfortunately, you may also notice Anne Arundel County Executive John Leopold shamelessly taking advantage of a photo opportunity with his dog, Dora. Mr. Leopold's dog is from the same puppy mill as Bill Clinton's now deceased dog, Buddy. I guess the pound isn't good enough for a big shot County Executive.
Newsflash: more dogs die at the pound than in house fires.
Thursday, April 24, 2008
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16 comments:
Beautiful dog!
Regarding the pound, they're inhumane. I mean that literally.
They will not allow pets to be adopted by farms, and have euthanized dogs rather than allow them to run on acres of farmland during the day while being kept inside through the night. They mandate kennelling while you're at work and are nazis about the right to barge into your home to inspect for their rules. Same for cats in their 1.5 x 1.5 cages indefinitely.
They're a mess. It's a shame for animals to be treated this way by the very people who claim to have their best interests in mind. Disgraceful and barbaric.
Hey Anon, I'm going to break one of my own rules here and respond to "you." Too bad you posted anonymously. See, if you wanted to announce yourself as taking a stand for a set of values and allowing other with similar values to connect (maybe even collaborate) with you, that would be so ??? um, useful, cool, functional ???
Instead, what I see is that you just deposited an opinion into the internet.
Newsflash: another piece of data exists on the internet. Wow.
Thanks for the chuckle. Quite amusing. Particularly placing the word "you" in quotes.
"You" might consider having two photos, one when you're smiling and another more realistic one.
iconic xer,
No one likes a blog bully.
Civility is still in style.
iconic "x"er- why don't you take your ridiculous rules back to your own blog? Notice how there is actually conversation going on at Freemarket? Newsflash: Even the crickets don't frequent your blog.
For all your endlessly grating pleas for social technology and interactive media, you seem to the the only one in the county with a blog that doesn't accomplish anything you espouse.
Perhaps you should try practicing why you preach. Civility. Staying on topic. Engaging in conversation.
With all due respect, dear Freemarket, there is a difference between breeders and puppy mills. Granted, I don't like either option, however, breeders (of the AKC variety, not the backyard variety) typically keep their dogs in good conditions in family homes.
Puppy mills are factories for dogs. The dogs are kept in cages without access to space, grass, or anything beyond the stench of their own feces.
Both breeders and puppy mills lead to the slaughter of thousands to millions of perfectly good dogs at the hands of animal control staff whose hands (and finances) are tied.
Don't even begin to defend in the indefensible policies of slaughtering dogs and cats needlessly.
It's not MONEY that prompts an untimely demise or even a shortage of prospective adoptions that keeps those pets from good homes - it's rigid bureacrats making decisions to KILL rather than place these pets.
It's too easy for the bureacrats to blame the breeders, and too easy for breeders to overproduce.
This entire cycle is the worst of our immature, whining, short-sighted, selfish, myopic, shallow, blaming, irresponsible, overindulged, gluttonous culture.
Anon 9:50- thanks for making clear the distinction between puppy mills and breeders.
Anon 6:32- what kinds of changes would you suggest be made to the current process of dealing with homeless animals? It sounds like this is something you may be knowledgeable about and I'd like to hear your ideas. This is a problem that does not get the discussion that it deserves.
Unfortunately, money has much to do with it. Yes, there are those that get off on killing animals, however, it is costly to house animals for a month, 3 months, or 2 years until they get adopted. The prospects for older animals- who can spend a year or longer in limbo before being adopted- is even more grim.
The first step is to eliminate puppy mills. To allow people to purchase animals at the mall on the same impulse that leads them to buy an expensive pair of shoes can lead to no good. Say what you will, but many breeders have a return policy. This is the same policy rescues use.
The elimination of puppy mills would not only increase the number of adoptions, but it would decrease the number of impulsively purchased animals dumped at the pound.
Do you have any idea how many cats alone HoCo euthanized in the past year? If Ho Co moves to no kill, where will the animals go? I'm not advocating for kill shelters, however, the sheer number of animals dumped every year leads me to ask who will take them all in?
All of us in rescue have numerous dogs and dozens of cats (in violation of county law, I may add), many of whom are fosters looking for a forever home. Asking us to make room for 3,000 more is just not feasible.
I could've guessed you were a 'rescue' by your passing the responsibility to the breeders/puppy mills. I'm trying not to say anything I'll regret but this is infuriating.
My suggestions? Get some real rescues that want to place these animals instead of 'insiders' who deem themselves the only ones capable of caring for these pets. I've been dealing with so called "rescues" and "pounds" for 15 years and the only, THE ONLY reputable dog and cat rescue I've found is the Baltimore County Animal Shelter. (give freely, they use it well).
I could tell story upon story about these "ethical ...animals" people but basically it all comes down to a bunch of red-tape bureacratic blamers who feel not one iota of resposibility for killing hundreds of pets while turning away adoptive families. No conscience. Utterly maddening and a disgrace.
Forget the song and dance about how many rescue workers have brought pets home - meaningless! How many have you killed?
I still don't see any suggestions in your comment. Please, share with the world how it is possible to feed and shelter thousands of unwanted animals. To not do so is greedy and selfish. Oh, and unproductive.
So tell me, what are you doing to make changes? I see evidence of nothing except bitching on a blog. Are you talking with animal control? Lobbying and advocating for changes in population control measures? I am. If you are not, then shame on you.
How many animals have I killed? None, thank you very much. I take great pride in the large number of animals - of all species- I've taken in and taken responsibility for over a few short years. Unless you yourself are offering to open your home to the thousands of animals killed in a year, I don't see how you are any better. In fact, so far as I can see, you've still got some stepping up to the plate to do.
What have you done, pray tell?
And your endorsement of Baltimore County is laughable. I suppose if you discount euthanizing feral cats in mass quantities, sure, they're great.
Your parading exhibition of superior attitude and basement diction have confirmed my earlier message.
And nothing, NOTHING about this is "laughable". Disgusting.
Still no suggestions....
I'll restate the obvious, we need real rescues.
And laws against mills.
Simple common sense, but instead we get self-important pomposity while animals are slaughtered.
Thanks for your contribution.
And I hope that I've misinterpreted your earlier, "Yes, there are those that get off on killing animals".
What? Who are you talking about?
Now I see the origin of the diction.
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