Hello everybody!   
      
   Something that should be read in general. It usually would help with the   
   pictures attached, but good to read for the people who occasionally read bbs   
   message bases.   
      
   Via Kimberly Allen Chapin   
      
   Can't Keep Your Pet? Plan to take to public shelter? READ THIS! (Bakersfield)   
   CA   
      
   If you plan to drop your pet off at a county or city shelter, this is likely   
   their reality.   
      
   Does this picture upset you? It should - your pet who stood by you will now   
   have it's last moments of life with a rope or muzzle tied around his or her   
   face, restrained, a long needle stuck in their vein, and tossed into a bag,   
   exactly like garbage.   
      
   Think twice before you just dump your pet at a shelter. If you don't realize   
   the over population problem, then wake up. The shelters are flooded with   
   animals because far more people are getting rid of their pets/move and "can't   
   take them with" (then find a landlord that accepts pets), have a baby and   
   can't keep... the list goes on and on... so they take their pet to the   
   shelter, where there are not enough adopters and rescues to save them (over   
   50% will die, in some shelters, that figure is closer to 80-85%). If you can't   
   keep your pet, then find that pet a home to go into. Why would you bring the   
   pet to a shelter? Have you ever been in the kennels of a shelter? Do you see   
   the distress, the fear, the anxiety, the crying these animals do - reaching   
   out to you with their paws - DESPERATE to get out. And, there just aren't   
   enough of us to save them, so many will die after living a miserable existence   
   for their last days on earth.   
      
   So, when you decide you no longer want your pet, who wanted nothing more than   
   to be your companion and bring them to the shelter, here is what they get to   
   look forward to.   
      
   They get to enjoy 1-5 days inside a kennel, likely with several other animals,   
   lying in their own feces, fighting with the others for food, no blankets, no   
   warm fuzzy beds, just cold, concrete floors in tight spaces, susceptible to   
   catching an illness, and when their time is up, they are led to the back of   
   the shelter (some wagging their tails as they are so happy to be out of their   
   cage with a human being, and mistakenly think they are going for a walk while   
   others are pulled with a pole, as they are scared out of their minds and have   
   no idea who these people are and what is happening) they are restrained, and   
   killed.   
      
   And for those of you dumping your senior dogs at the shelter, have a heart if   
   they are at the end of their life. Take them to the vet's office or a shelter   
   that offers humane euthanasia, hold them, pet them, let them know they were   
   loved, and let them leave the word with dignity instead of confusion and fear.   
      
   Do you think this is the nice, easy shot first to put them to sleep, then to   
   stop their heart like at the vet? Think again - it's painful. The shelters   
   don't have the time or money for that... nice ending to their life.   
      
   We are fortunate enough to share this earth with companion animals... you   
   should take that honor and commitment seriously. Don't get a pet if you can't   
   commit to keeping that pet for the duration of it's life...   
      
   TAKE RESPONSIBILITY AND DO THE RIGHT THING!!!!   
      
   Matt   
      
      
   ... An armed populace is the greatest insurance against tyranny.   
   --- GoldED+/W32-MSVC 1.1.5-b20130111   
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