Dumb as dead cats.

[kyburg]

Like carts following horses.

You heard Stockton is the city with all of its houses either in foreclosure or being sold after foreclosure, right?

"Pets "are getting dumped all over," said Traci Jennings, president of the Humane Society of Stanislaus County in northern California. "Farmers are finding dogs dumped on their grazing grounds, while house cats are showing up in wild cat colonies."

Never mind that the shelters were full to overflowing...they always are, this part of the country. It hasn't mattered what time of year it was - you find abandoned pets, and you want to shelter them...you'll be turned away. We're full. FOREVER.

You pay taxes to provide shelters, by the way. Your dollars just can't work hard enough to keep up.

Where I stand on this, from a truly objective standpoint - and you have to remove all emotion from this to get there - is that if you look closer, you'll find much more than abandoned pets. You'll find child and spousal abuse. Substance issues. Alcoholism. Ruined credit reports...what history has always found in populations of people unable to keep the wheels turning.

I'd wager a lot of these folks haven't had health insurance for a loooong time, too. They've been handed the old "you're screwed and nobody cares" line so often, it just rolls down to the next level.

And there hasn't even been a hurricane, earthquake or other natural disaster to blame.

Next biggest thing to Stockton is Sacramento, state capital.

The houses are new, shiny and huge. Welcome to the new ghost towns of California.

Dumb as dead cats. I swear.

Comments

[sunfell.livejournal.com]

My cats are my family. Period. I will not abandon them or dump them into a shelter.

I remember when I left England, how my British friends kept asking me about my cats- could I bring them with me? Was I going to? Of course! But sadly, abandoned pets are a hazard of military families, too, which was why they were concerned. Even in the airport, I got praise from strangers for taking my kitties with me.

When I got them, I committed to caring for them for their entire lives. We've almost been homeless, and we've lived with my parents for a while (Gurney did, along with his late brother). But they've been with me through thick and thin. They are not disposable.

[amanda-nye.livejournal.com]

yup, there was an article recently in the local paper about the pets left behind at foreclosed homes. One real estate agent formed a group to take in or find homes for the ones they found. One problem that they ran into is that you can't declare a pet abandoned (when it's left at a home) for a period of something like 3 weeks during which time they had to return to the house regularly to make sure they had food and water. Only then could they officially take the animals. It really sucked.

[kyburg.livejournal.com]

Bet someone or a few someones got into the routine of going house to house, providing shelter care in situ for those weeks. Maybe even placing pets directly from the original houses, neh?

Anything to take the load off the shelters, which are never less than topped off. Never. That's been the situation as long as I can remember.

[yeoww.livejournal.com]

More than a few of my co-workers bought houses in Stockton, Tracy, Modesto, Ripon during the dot com boom and then bottomed out. There's another group that works in a large city like San Jose or Sacramento, buys in a smaller community because it's cheaper, commutes for a time, can't handle it.

Dumping pets. People who will do that will, imo, abuse children. Both pets and children are dependents in the absolute sense of the word.

[kyburg.livejournal.com]

And when in a pinch? If they can jettison - they do.

[dracowayfarer.livejournal.com]

Have to ask: "dumb as dead cats"?

[kyburg.livejournal.com]

This goes back a few years - back to the book "101 Things to Do With A Dead Cat"

The wank back then was that if the cat was stupid enough for keep owners that would do such things...it was truly a stupid cat...and the only stupider would be that same cat, DEAD.

Hence...dumb as a dead cat.