Comments on: Texas Charity Raising Money To Buy Vick’s House To Turn Into Animal Shelter

By: Danielle

Danielle — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 17:49:45 +0000

I really think you all are being too judgmental.

This site/project isn’t about a publicity stunt.. it’s about good karma. Putting a positive spin on a bad situation. As well as raising awareness. Sometimes large, public gestures are needed to bring awareness.

Plus, it’s better than letting Vick have the house back, when he gets out.

He’s been ordered to cover the dog’s cost of care… he should be ordered to surrender his house as well, in my opinion.

But back to my original point: Can’t you give credit for good intentions, even if you don’t agree with the methods?

Besides, the site said it’s donations will go to the ASPCA if they can’t purchase the house.. the man running this project is very nice, and willing to listen (he’s taken down PETA as an affiliate because of your hurtful comments, by the way)… have any of you tried emailing him, and suggesting he find a local shelter instead?? Or suggesting a specific local shelter?

And, as wasteful as you may think it is, a mansion is still more square footage, for more animals, until we can really and truly convince everyone that breeding is not the way to go, and to spay and neuter their animals.

By: M

Tue, 22 Jan 2008 13:43:34 +0000

Your funny Furmom. Perhaps you need to come out here and visit PA sometime. People here think that SPAYING AND NEUTERING RUINS A DOG/CAT. Their animal wont hunt/work etc etc if that happens. I’m not saying they are right, in fact I think I live in one of the most ignorant parts of the country when it comes to animal welfare. They WILL NOT pay exorbitant fees or accept a discount (which there already is) for a spayed/neutered pet. They would rather dump/inhumanely dispose of Fluffy, then sit around drinking beer complainin’ on how the gumment is inhibiting them from owning a workin’ dog.

My dogs are all spayed and neutered. I had one male who wasn’t. He had a heart condition and anethesia could have cost him his life. Would it have been fair to me to lose my dog because the government said I had to neuter him? I guess I would have had to pay an exorbitant licensing fee, or would you propose that I have to petition the government for permission to have an intact male?

Who would be in charge of this? the USDA who can’t even inspect more than 1% of our meat/food production plants a year..or the FDA who can’t even inspect what’s coming into this country and allows lead and melamine infested items in? Perhaps they can raise our taxes and form a new division JUST for this purpose…yknow because with the recession looming we have nothing better to do that think of more ways to throw what money we have left after heating our homes and fueling our cars out the window.

I don’t know what the solution is to this, All I know is the solution is to NOT have the government tell me what I HAVE to do with MY PETS.

By: trucorgi

trucorgi — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 00:06:05 +0000

furmom- here are some answers to your questions. http://www.naiaonline.org/pdfs.....0Final.pdf

By: furmom

furmom — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 17:11:00 +0000

Wow, a lot of sweeping statements and loaded language.
“Don’t criminalize all”: how is licensing breeders criminalizing them? If they are responsible enough to do health screening, vet checks and no-spay contracts, and are collecting 600 to 1000 bucks and more for pups, why not include the spay fee (or part of it) in the price.
“People should have a choice”: They do and would have a choice, that is to breed responsably, or ensure animals are neutered. What freedom are they then losing by neutering in order to get a bargain on licensing, except the freedom to breed without restriction and collect money while adding to the overpopulation. Breeding is not bad, let’s just do it right, and regulate how many of those puppies are producing more puppies.
“Dogs will become extinct”: Really unlikely, considering they are so favored by humans,and breeders would still make some money from selling,but if they should become an “endangered species”, the rules can always be relaxed a little, reduce the breeding fees in future.
“Just educate the public” Well of course you continue to do that, it wouldn’t stop just because of tighter licensing for breeders. And education alone isn’t working real well for many many pets. Many people will get their pet neutered if it’s a regulated requirement. Will they take them out back and shoot them instead of turning them into a shelter? Would it be better that they keep their un-neutered pet, tied up out back, to propagate more unwanted puppies?
“Puppy mill breeders should just get a conscience” Yeah right. But if they don’t, maybe a law would force them to get their puppies fixed or quit the business. At least the groups trying to limit all the unwanted pups would have a law that allows them to shut down the irresponsable businesses.
“Don’t put government (or peta) in charge.” Okay put someone else in charge. Almost every communtiy has enough people working deperately to help unwanted animals, I should think they’d find it more efficient to oversee local dog control licensing than keep housing and having to put down thousands of unwanted pets.
Regulating works for many other human activities like driving, building regulations, fire regulations, employment standards. If there weren’t rules involved a lot more people would act irresponsably. Unfortunately not many people do “the right thing” unless motivated by restrictions and penalties.

By: catmom5

catmom5 — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 16:16:26 +0000

I’m not going to get into the responsible vs irresponsible breeders debate. I have reported these people and they are not breaking any laws because there are no laws against what they are doing, pure and simple. They have the legal right to breed their animals, just not the moral conscience.

By: trucorgi

trucorgi — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 15:09:12 +0000

Just exactly who do you want to punish with an exorbitant tax? Reputable breeders already do health screening, sell pets on spay/neuter contracts, take back any time any reason, pay taxes and obey the law. We take in fosters, donate to rescue and don’t tack signs to utility poles. That sounds like an unlicensed puppy mill with multiple breeds. Why don’t you report them? They are probably already violating existing laws. Decent breeders are part of the solution and tired of being demonized by the AR movement. We despise puppy mills and uninformed backyard breeding as much as you do. You bet AKC and CFA will keep fighting MSN. If these laws are passed the only pure bred dogs and cats available will be from USDA licensed puppy mills. Is that what you really want? There are a lot of people that want a well bred, home raised, socialized pet with a guarantee and a breeder that supports throughout that pets entire life. Don’t criminalize all for the sins of a few and don’t give the government the power to outsource home inspection and licensing to the animal rights movement. It will come back to bite everyone. Support public ed, low cost spay neuter, foster care and no-kill.

By: Nell Liquorman

Nell Liquorman — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 14:26:11 +0000

I disagree with mandatory spay and neutering. This just takes away your freedom to choose. Choosing means paying and some people just cannot afford the veterinarian costs.
It would be much better to provide these services to those who do not have the income to support the cost of spay and neutering.
Some people who spay and neuter still abandon pets at shelters. Educationing people about pets and their care would help more people keep them.
People dumped pets long before we had shelters where they could be surrended, but this was not a result of over population of pets. Some reasons were: ignorance, unable to support feeding them, and pets had a lower status, often living totally outdoors.
Raising the cost of license just gives counties more money. You may not like the way it is spent. Don’t give the government more ideas on how to get more of your money.
Most animal groups are non-profit. When they are huge and take in great sums from foundations, celebrities, and healthy donations due to so much media coverage, do you wonder how many of these millions actually get spent helping animals?
The NATIONAL PET PRESS is currently addressing this issue in order to give the pet people and the public the facts, so they can determine for themselves where they want to send their donation money, or if they want to. We are also addressing everyday care and health issues to help with eduation so more people can cope with issues that could end in the surrendering of an animal.
It is important that we keep cool heads and don’t let any legislation get passed that will take away any of our constutional rights. Our right to choose should be important.
The issue of too many abandoned or surrendered pets is greater in some areas than others. I live in Florida and there are so many that it makes one think that abandoning and surrending pets has become a sport! Too often it is something as simple as not wanting to deal with the fleas, or that the cost of doing it gets out of hand.

By: M

Mon, 21 Jan 2008 14:09:33 +0000

the government can’t even figure out how to get out of a paper bag and you want to give them the authority to tell me what to do with my pet? What’s next, manditory spay/neutering of people? No THANKS.

Most of the breeders that I know perform health clearances on their dogs. You sign contracts with them. These aren’t people who are pumping out puppies left and right..some people wait YEARS for puppies from these breeders. Why should these people be punished?

There needs to be LOW COST SPAY AND NEUTERING available on a regular basis regardless of income. There also needs to be public EDUCATION, people need to be informed WHY spaying and neutering is a responsible measure.

In the area I live, people REFUSE to spay and neuter their animals because fluffy will no longer hunt mice, Fido will never sire a litter, Missy will get fat and her personality will change blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah. And like someone said, people just WONT get licenses..that and people will just take Fido outback and shoot him, or abandon him on some country road or drop him at a shelter. Well hey that solution worked, now the shelters are even MORE overrun with unwanted animals..more animals for PETA to kill YAY!

By: catmom5

catmom5 — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 13:52:15 +0000

I really like the idea of licensing all breeders. There are signs all over town (ya know, classy ones tacked to utility poles and such) with pit pups, persian and himalayan kittens for sale ~ all giving the same phone number. Backyard breeders? Probably. Can anyone do anything LEGALLY about it? Nope.
I think that neutering and spaying is the best answer for the large percentage of animals. And I like the idea of free licenses for spayed/neutered animals and large fees for intact. (Some will argue that folks will just not get licenses, but ya gotta start somewhere.)
We’ve gotta quit saying things won’t work and start doing some things that have worked in some places. There will always be those who don’t follow the law, but then there’s legal recourse for them.
Bottom line is that many in this culture (as well as way too many others around the world) do not value animals. So I think we need to be changing attitudes, too.

By: DeniseA

DeniseA — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 13:45:40 +0000

I totally agree with furmom’s idea.

free licenses for fixed pets and exorbitant fees for unfixed animals and
ENFORCE THE ORDINANCE!

By: janet

janet — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 23:09:10 +0000

animals at our local humane society are spayed or neutered before they are adopted. If it were mandatory to spay or neuter, dogs and cats would become extinct. Is that desirable? I have had 4 male dogs in the last 47 years and not one of them ever sired a litter. I chose to not neuter as I did not wish to risk anesthesia. Each dog was a wonderful companion and had a good, long happy life. At the present time I have an intact male 3 year old sweet dog and he will never sire a litter either and I won’t risk his life to have him neutered. There are medical pros and cons to neutering. I choose my puppies for having a good disposition bred into them and I have never been disappointed and I vehemently resent any government authority telling me what to do as long as I am a responsible dog person. Neutering is fine and good and much needed in some cases but let’s not make dogs extinct.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 20:27:42 +0000

furmom that would be a great idea about the licensing fees. My pup came from a breeder and she always keeps in touch with me. most are not like that though. They are puppy mills mass producing the dogs. when i got my dog I tried to get a young shihtzu from the shelter and could not and even went on a waiting list. My last dog muffin died of lymphoma in 2004 at k7 years old. this time I wanted a breeder that genetically test her dogs and mine does. I will be getting a kittly soon and he will come from the humane society. they have adorable cats there. The doga are almost always big. I wanted a small one. I had a beautiful husky collie years back that I loved but I guess I wanted a shihtzu. take care

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 20:22:18 +0000

I am sorry it came out wrong. I guess what I am trying to say gosh I hope this comes out right hehe. if someone buy a dog or cat for say $1,000.00 and have to spay and neuter it maybe its more unlikely it will end up dumped in a shelter. Of couse 90 percent are cute but I would still adopt one that isn’t but sweet but alot of people won’t. I don’t know what kind of cat my rocky was but he was beautiful and there are a lot of pure bred dogs that get dumped when the puppy mills use them up but I just think if you spend alot of money for a dog you are less likely to dump it. also when I was growning up we had a pure bred spitz from the dog pound. He was abused so that is how we got him and he was a beauty too. I am sorry and I hoped everyone would understand what I am trying to get accorss. The animals are being aloud to breed with anything alot of times because they are not fixed and the littlers end up dumped and some times are killed because of the people. do you think these people would just spend big money to buy an animal and do that I mean most would not.

By: kathy

kathy — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 17:08:06 +0000

Two things—-Number one, the energy at that mansion has to be so horrible, how could it possibly be a good place for a shelter? The animals would be terrified all the time.
Two, I agree about the spay-neuter and education. Just this week a beagle “breeder” called our group, asking us to take 2 pups he hadn’t been able to sell. We offered to help him get the momma spayed but oh no, he wants to breed her again. I said–someone please take me out and shoot me. We need HUGE licensing fees for unspayed/unneutered animals and serious enforcement of laws requiring these licenses. The way it is now, people only get ticketed if their dog is caught running loose. I wonder if we need to stop building shelters, it almost seems as though we are just enabling people. I love my mutts, wouldn’t have a breed if I was paid to take it but to each his own, breeders of mutts can be responsible too! Just make everyone buy city/county tags, and if they’re going to breed make them have a breeder’s license. Animal control should arrest everyone who advertises puppies to give away or sell and does not have a breeders license! IMO….

By: furmom

furmom — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 16:26:13 +0000

Spay and neuter programs are essential and far more efficient than trying to find homes for all the unwanted pets. Mandatory licensing done consistently in all jurisdictions would go a long way to stemming the tide of irresponsable propagation of animals. How about FREE licenses for pets that are neutered and very large fee for unfixed animals and use the proceeds to fund cheaper neutering. Breeders who are charging hundreds of dollars per animal are still making a large profit from adding hundreds to the animal population, but don’t necessarily follow up that the animals produced are all being neutered. How about requiring by law every seller of pets to include a free spay in the exhorbitant price they collect for a sold puppy or kitten?