I’m angrier than a black man at a Merle Haggard concert over this next story. So angry am I that I can’t even lift this can of Dr. Pepper that’s right beside me. It makes me even angrier that I am so angry that I can’t have a drink. I’m thirsty! Wow! Glad to get that off my chest!
This next story enrages me and it should enrage you as well. I have a soft spot in my heart for animals, especially cats. I have two cats and I have had cats my entire life, starting when I was six. But dogs are good, too. I’m merely a cat person.
It turns out that here in the general Albany County area, there is a housing crisis for stray dogs. WNYT, the local NBC affiliate, says that there are so many strays that municipalities are having a difficult time finding places to put them.
The local humane society shelter is so full that they simply cannot take in anymore animals, especially dogs. It’s so bad that some dogs will have to be put in specially redesigned cells in the county jail.
How did we get to this point? Why are so many dogs homeless to begin with? Are people abandoning their dogs? That’s how we got one of our cats; she was found roaming an empty parcel of land, stray, hungry and feeling unloved. She’s had a forever home with us for the past three years. I would never dream of just abandoning her.
So why are so many people willing to make it so their dogs are homeless? What kind of cold-hearted monster would do such a thing? I realize that some dogs may simply have run away, but that’s why you get your animal chipped. That way, the local town and city animal shelters can check for a chip and reah out to the owner to get the dog (or cat) back to their forever home.
Some dogs are being housed at local vet clinics and still others are left in small cages in a local animal control facility.
People: get your animal chipped. These dogs are probably scared and confused, pining for their owners. Don’t let your dog or cat get into that situation to begin with. Get them chipped.