Responsibility re Pets

Here are Peaches and Huckleberry...contented, cared for, spoiled beyond reason..lucky campers. But there are so many others. Please read on:


Last Friday evening, a sweet little orange 9-10 week old kitten showed up at my kitchen window. He was so friendly and didn't seem to be in too much physical distress so I didn't feed him hoping he was just visiting and would return to his home if I didn't respond. He was back again on Saturday evening with a little long haired black female, emaciated and terribly dull-eyed, obviously in bad shape. I couldn't help it...I put out some kibble for them which of course they gobbled up in minutes! Sunday I fed and watered them again planning to take them to the shelter after work on Monday...which I did. I had no sooner arrived back home when I heard a series of plaintive mews and here comes another out from under my barn. I snatched her up and raced back to the shelter before it closed. The next morning a neighbor who knows I have two cats of my own, phoned to ask about them as she had found a little orange kitten, dead, hit by a car, in the ditch between our houses.
So...apparently someone dumped four kittens. In our sparsley populated neighborhood, these people could be pretty sure of doing their dirty deed without being observed.
This is not a new story, just another awful example of how badly people disrespect the little animals who expect care and consideration from us.
To those people, I wish to say this. Obviously you had some issues with yourselves as animal caretakers or else you would have stepped up to the plate and taken responsibility for the litter of kittens you did not want. Please, people, don't treat our amazing little animal friends like garbage. Whatever the reason is that you ended up with four little critturs that you didn't want or couldn't afford...whatever the reason, all you had to do was take them to the shelter. That's what it's there for. That's what they do. Although they certainly see first hand the inhumanity to animals they do not judge.The people at the Humane Association shelters are kindly caring people. They would have just taken these little guys off your hands and tended to their needs.
A message to every other animal lover in the county, drop off a five dollar bill now and then or a sack of kitty kibble or dog chow at your local animal shelter. Truly a good deed.
Every time you pet your kitty or hug your dog, remember that there are little critturs out there abandoned and in need.