Dropped pets just coyote bait

Viewpoints

July 17, 2010

Ike Adams CNHI The Richmond Register Sat Jul 17, 2010, 02:00 PM EDT

RICHMOND — One of the most annoying things about living in a relatively secluded but easily accessible place, such as Charlie Brown Road here in Garrard County and on which I live, is that is that people who grow tired of their domestic animals find it convenient to drop them off on us.

The kittens that were so cute, the puppies that looked so cool to the kids, grow up fast and suddenly become aggravations that need serious veterinarian attention. The kitten that cuddled and purred when he or she was tiny turns into a cat with a “don’t even try to touch me” disposition and sharpens its claws on couches, curtains and carpets. The puppy who playfully yapped and licked the kids’ hands when he or she (the pup) was six weeks old turns into an adolescent dog that weighs 40 pounds or more and chews on chair legs or a favorite pair of shoes anytime the owner is not looking.

“These look like kind and gentle people in this neighborhood and I’m sure they really need a new cat or dog”, the droppers-off must say to themselves and so, they sneak onto Charlie Brown Road or onto Old Railroad Grade in the dead of night, push the pup or kitten out of the car and lay rubber as they speed away so fast the former pet can’t catch them.

I may be wrong but I am assuming that the droppers- off are butt holes from nearby towns such as Berea, Lancaster and Richmond who mistake that we country folk really give a damn about the pets they don’t want. They don’t realize that every kitten and most of the pups they drop on us are nothing more than coyote bait.

I promise you that a kitten or a cat or even juvenile dog , unused to self protection in the outdoors, dropped off in our neighborhood, is nothing better than fox or coyote food and that it will suffer a horrible death. Please take your unwanted animals to the nearest shelter and hope that someone with the strength of reason and responsibility adopts them . Otherwise they will be humanely put to death and that has to be better than being chased down and torn to shreds by a coyote.

And that’s what happens if you drop a house dog or cat in our neighborhood hoping that someone will take the responsibility that you abdicated. We are not in the animal rescue business here, nor will we be. And we’d like to be rid of the coyotes who seem so prone to feed in our back yards.

I suspect that this is a universal irritation among rural living people. I’m not sure that we can do anything about it other than make the irresponsible feel guilty. And I’m not sure that feeling of guilt lasts very long.

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