Everyone has the right to their own opinion, and to voice that opinion (hopefully in a controlled, constructive manner). I myself am liable to throw off into a temper tantrum because of my lack of desire to see something from another's point of view. But because I disagree or even agree with anything, doesn't make anything right or wrong.Quote:
Originally Posted by Fr_Chuck
Pet vs. livestock brings up a good point though, Fr_Chuck. I think back to the farm I lived on, and the number of animals that died on a regular basis. The PETA-types,(this is used in bad taste and very generic, sorry) if they were to have seen what my animals were going through on a regular basis, they would have declared war on my family! Dogs died on a regular basis from injuries from wild hogs, coyotes, bobcats, snake bites or being trampled. But that was their job, to keep vermin at bay and away from the livestock and gardens. Cats died VERY regularly from snake bites, rodents and other varmints, but that too, was their job, to keep those things out of the yard, barn, and feed house. 80% of the animals on our hill were raised with intent to be butchered and consumed or sold for others to eat. The other 20% had to provide a service from the horses pulling plows, dogs protecting the livestock, to the cats keeping vermin in check.
Sometimes the difference between breeding dogs and breeding livestock is null and void, but most of the time it's night and day. Just as I would REFUSE to have anything to do with aiding someone who breeds, inbreeds, over breeds pits, rotts, dobies, etc for fighting, they could say that I am a hypocrite and that my having bred dogs to fight coyotes and such is no different. If that is their opinion, and they can rationalize it, there's no arguing them out of it, right or wrong. Most of you will think I am in the wrong for breeding dogs knowing the high probability they would live a short, hard life with a very little if any concept of luxury, but that was how it was back then and even OUR survival could depend upon an animal's ability to do it's intended job.
Granted, as a general rule, I see absolutely NO argument for not having your animals spayed/neutered. That simple thing absolutely, positively prevents accidental breeding. If you are not SPECIFICALLY intending on breeding and animal, is should be fixed to prevent the inevitable. An animal in heat will seek a male just as aggressively as a male will seek a female in heat. I've seen animals bred THROUGH cages. There's no excuse not to fix an animal that is going to be a pet. But you can't force people to do so. So it's a problem that will never go away. You cat put forth the effort to educate everyone that you can, and sometimes you will have some successes, but most often you will fail. The few successes you may have far outweigh the failures, even though in the long run, in the grand scheme, you haven't really accomplished anything. You keep 10% of BYB's from breeding, and guess what, the same number of animals still die in the shelter every week. But you will know you have done something.
Educate who you can, but don't force it upon them. Let them know how you feel on the subject, let them see your side, but don't damn them because they don't agree with you (no matter how much you want to.)
If a BYB is posting asking questions about a botched litter of puppies, are you doing any worse by not posting at all, than to jump on them and shove an agenda down their throat about how wrong they are because of the numbers of unwanted animals dying in the pound every week? Or you could try to help them save the animals they can, and strongly plead with them to fix ALL of the animals in question to prevent it from happening again.
Maybe they will. Maybe they won't. Maybe they'll give you a reddie.
