Tales & Tails of New York

This morning I see two of the three white cats Renee sent out the urgent email on Christmas Eve back on the euth list at the shelter.

There are in fact, 42 cats on the New Hope (euthanasia list) today, most of them, abandoned pets, right before the holiday.

Also, among my desperate emails today is one about a "gentle, friendly Pit Bull" who came into the Brooklyn shelter after being hung by his genitals.

And another email from some people who need to unload their dog of eight years because an "allergic" relative has moved in with them.  I advised these people to make investments in allergy meds. 

Nobody is calling to "adopt" eight-year-old dogs, pit bulls who have been victims of torture or owner-dumped cats now on the euth list of our local shelter. There is nothing I can do to help these particular animals.

But, I of course, am getting some "adoption calls," -- most of which I can do nothing with.

They are falling into one of two categories:

Those people who want to talk about adopting an animal represent the first category, but, for whatever reason, they are not actually prepared to adopt.

One of these is a gentleman who has called me a number of times over the past three months.  Despite visiting a number of shelters and rescue groups and seeing many dozens of cats, he is still "looking" for that special cat he feels "connection" to.

Quite frankly, I don't know what that means.  Why can't he just go to the local pound and save a cat?

I keep telling this gentleman to call me when he is physically and mentally ready to bring home a cat.  But, he always tells me he wants to adopt "next weekend" or sometime thereafter.

I think the man is lonely after his cat died more than a year ago and simply likes to talk about maybe adopting another cat "sometime."  Unfortunately, he is mostly wasting my time, as I am neither a therapist nor a grief counselor. 

Rather, Iam someone painfully aware of all the animals dying everyday or otherwise in truly dire situations.  But, my callers don't want to hear about any of that.  They call to tell me what they "want" or think about doing "sometime" (as long as it's not today).

Another gentleman called on Christmas Eve to tell me how his friend "wants to adopt a dog."   I described our dogs to him and advised that his friend should call us if interested in any of our dogs.  

"Or you might visit the AC&C shelter, where your friend would be able to see many, many dogs for adoption," I told the man.

"But, if we do that, then we will leave the shelter with a dog!" the man said with obvious concern or even distress in his voice.

"But, isn't that the point?" I asked in complete bewilderment.  

The man is calling about adopting a dog and then reacts with borderline terror when advised where to actually adopt one!

I am starting to wonder (like "Alfie" of the old 60's movie), "What's it all about?"

Is it them or me who is crazy?

The other category of people who call about adoptions are those who seem to confuse shelters and rescue with breeders or merchandisers.

"I want a little kitten."  "I want a Persian, Siamese or Bengal." "I want a Pug or Poodle puppy."

"Well, let me put in an order for you right away. We'll have one for you in an hour!"

Of course I can't say that, as we don't "put orders in for animals."

Rather, we are told who needs rescuing.

And those animals are almost never purebred, small dogs/puppies or healthy, social, 'little kittens."

When we do get kittens they are usually sick or unsocialized.  By the time we get the kittens healthy or socialized to humans, people then tell us they are "looking for something younger."

When we do get small dogs, they are usually neglected, scared, older or dumped due to suffering some medical condition that the previous owner either could not afford (or didn't want) to treat.

Most of the animals we have for adoption are in fact, "regular" (but, healthy and nice) dogs or cats who were either former strays or given up by owners for some dumb reason at the pound.

They are almost never "purebred," "tiny," or "baby" and just about everyone who calls "wants" a "perfect" purebred, small or infantile animal.

In essence, there is this huge gap between those animals who typically come into shelters and rescue and those the public "wants" (or claims to "want").

This is why shelters and rescues will get many calls and see many people come to "look at" animals, but witness relatively few actual adoptions.

This is why we get desperate emails everyday and calls about animals needing rescue and can only save a pitiful few.

And this is why we have better than 50 animals going down in our shelters everyday and thousands more dying on our streets.

It ain't at all like the "good old days" (such as when I grew up) when people were perfectly content to take in that stray cat or dog or go to the local pound and come home with the first animal who licked one's hand.

While not to suggest going back to the "good ol' days" when animals weren't neutered and filled our streets and shelters by the hundreds of thousands, I would like to return to the "good ol' days" where animal acquisition was a simple, unfettered process whose main motivation was a simple sharing of home and heart.

Too many people today make acquiring a pet a much bigger deal than it has to be.

Too many people have made it into something of "searching for the perfect pet" or endless, shallow demand, instead of love simply finding love.

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