Friday 19 October 2012

Are we still a nation of animal lovers?



According to leading pet charity, Blue Cross, the number of abandoned kittens, puppies and pregnant pets has reached troubling levels. Its re-homing centres around the UK are being overwhelmed as more pets than ever are being dumped and abandoned. As a result of this, the charity is calling on pet owners to support the Blue Cross Big Neutering Campaign which launches today.

In the past four years, the number of pets born at Blue Cross centres after their pregnant mothers were abandoned or given up has nearly doubled[i], and Blue Cross has also needed to rescue record numbers of homeless kittens and puppies. [ii]. Many of these are like puppy, Waffle, who experienced a miserable, short life after being left wrapped up in newspaper with his young sisters and dumped like rubbish on a country lane. The other puppies survived thanks to Blue Cross, but sadly Waffle didn’t.

The Blue Cross Big Neutering Campaign wants to stop this kind of thing happening by:
* making ‘neutering the norm’; 
* stamping out irresponsible breeding and 
* raising awareness amongst millions of animal lovers of the huge benefits of neutering their pets. 

Preventing unwanted litters can save pets from a life that’s often short and full of misery. Many pet rescues now in fact make it a condition of re-homing a pet that you neuter it. One of the first things we did when we adopted Anya from the SSPCA Animal Rescue was to have her spayed.


[i] Double number of animals born on site after pregnant pets given up (312 between July 2011and June 2012 and 161 from July 2007 to June 2008)
[ii] 41% increase in pets under four months old admitted to Blue Cross compared to four years ago (1991 from July 20 11 to Jun 2012 and 1403 between July 2007 and June 2008)

15 comments:

Occupy Poetry Board said...

Unfortunately there are very terrific cases on how people are treating animals these days. We have recently shared many petitions on our FB page asking people to take action for that

Anonymous said...

A worthwhile cause indeed. Thank you for sharing and thank you for visiting my blog. I have at last got around to adding you to my links so that I don't keep losing you!

The Weaver of Grass said...

People are so irresponsible Juliet. The farmer's niece spotted what seemed to be an abandoned puppy out in the country. It was a Blue Merle and ran away every time she tried to entice it. She began to leave food out in the hedge back near to where she kept seeing it and eventually she caught it in a fox trap. Now it has a wonderful home with her as she is a great dog lover. But we came to the conclusion that the pup had been thrown out of a passing car - it had no collar or any sign of being owned.

Alison Wiley said...

Yes, I've believed for a long time that neutering should be the norm. In a chat with a veterinarian some years ago, I got the impression there was a conflict of interest between the size of overall salary she and other vets wanted to earn, and what most pet-owners could reasonably afford for neautering. This makes me think that we need paravets, something like paralegals, who are trained to do neutering but not all the other things that vets go to school many years to learn how to do. I wonder if something like this already exists somewhere, perhaps in a developing country that has had to be more shrewd with resources than a first world country.

Thanks for this good post, Juliet.

Crafty Green Poet said...

That's so sad, Weaver, but great that the farmer's niece gave the dog a loving home

Crafty Green Poet said...

bythewobblydumdumtree - thanks!

Occupy - the more petitions the more awareness, good luck with your work there!

Alison - paravets sound like a great idea!

Tommaso Gervasutti said...

Well, for some reason I am sure that in the UK there are more animal lovers than in Italy. Since that day when I saw an aged lady in a coach from London to the north who had a seat reserved for her dog, in Italy that would be unthinkable... As for myself, I lived with a stray dog for eighteen years and now I have been living with another since 2004.

Crafty Green Poet said...

Tommaso, you're certainly right there, we are generally a nation of animal lovers in the UK.

eileeninmd said...

A great post bringing attention to the animals they need our help Thanks! Have a wonderful weekend!

Anonymous said...

Your Anya was adorable! I think people generally love animals but not all love them unconditionally - dumping them when they can't deal with any problems that come up (finances, behaviour etc.,) - we need to stop pet shops from selling animals so that people don't buy pets on the spur of the moment after seeing a cute puppy or kitten or bird - it would also help if only registered breeders with the right conditions for breeding were allowed to breed animals.

Ms Sparrow said...

I like Alison's suggestion. It makes a lot of sense to make it easier and cheaper for people to get their pets neutered!

RG said...

Kind of a sign of the times too, I think. But then - I remember that we would not have Kitty Boy or Chico or Zoey to help brighten our lives if they had not been abandoned.

RG said...

I also am reminded that the American Humane Society - a huge organization collecting millions of dollars in donations - is the group most Americans thinks cares for homeless animals. In fact, it does not. It is an information and advocacy group primarily, with very little effort on finding homes and doing neutering or spaying. Their fame and money could be much better spent on this problem.

Crafty Green Poet said...

Gabrielle thanks, yes Anya was adorable! You make excellent points about pet shops and registered breeders too.

Rabbits Guy - we have some misleading organisations over here too, yes the advocacy work is essential but so is the practical work and they should go together.

Christina said...

Everyone seems to love them for a minute...until they become too much work.