The importance of responsibility:
First let us say we are grateful for receiving this email. It helped us to piece together the story of June and Pippin.
One week after we received this email animal control showed up with an orange six-month-old male. He responded to a call 4 miles down the road from our organization about a friendly, hungry cat that appeared out of nowhere.
That afternoon one of our neighbors showed up with a small black, balding cat in poor condition in a grain bag that they had discovered in their shed. They thought it was one of ours since many of our cats are free-roaming. We took this cat in, and thanks to having received the email one week prior, we were able to connect the dots and realize it was June.
June and Pippin were reunited which helped them settle in and adjust to their new surroundings. June was in poor health and still gave birth to 3 kittens 3 days later.
“My daughter got nervous “meant that she panicked and dumped Pippin and June in our driveway. We know she was hoping we would discover them and take them in. That is rarely how the story ends.
We are situated on a very busy road, in a rural area full of predators and other dangers. It is critically important to cats that are dumped, our neighbors, and the health and safety of our own cats, that this kind of abuse comes to an end.
We have many dominant resident cats that drive out strangers. Our primary focus is: colonies, feral and stray cats that have some street smarts. We are not set up for your unwanted family pet. Family pets go through a lot of trauma being dumped in a strange location with no wherewithal to care for themselves. If they are not properly vaccinated they are exposed to all of the illness and disease from the cats that we willingly choose to take in. Cats that are dumped usually never make their way to us, they get hit by cars, they get taken by coyotes and if they manage to stick around it can take us months to catch them since they are so traumatized and uncertain of their surroundings. By then they are not in good condition and require additional medical care.
Pippin was neutered, fully vaccinated, and adopted out to a caring young woman who loves him very much.
June and her 3 kittens are currently in foster care with one of our volunteers. All 4 are doing well and will be going up for adoption as soon as they are ready.
We would like to use this story, which fortunately had a happy ending, to educate and empower people to take full responsibility for their pets. In the effort to change minds and attitudes about caring for animals through thick and thin here we go again. Please think before you act. Do right by your animal even if it is inconvenient for you. There are many spay/neuter organizations out there as well as pet food pantries that can help with food. Our goal here is personal accountability regardless of the situation. Dumping animals on the side of the road is reckless and irresponsible. It is traumatizing and dangerous to your pet. It dumps your mess on someone else. Dumping your animals only solves your problem. It creates more work, more expense, and more load for the individuals, towns, and organizations that care for them. #Educate#Eleveate#Empower
Here is the reality of this post: Most of you that follow and support us already understand all of this. In this crazy world, we are living in right now our outreach in our community is very limited. The speaking engagements and events to educate and empower have indefinitely been put on hold. Our own programming within our facility is postponed indefinitely. Our hope here today is for everyone that follows our work and our mission reaches one person within your circle that you could educate and enlighten and change the attitude on the plight of these cats that we all care about. We can still work and help one mind at a time.
Thanks for listening…..
