Originally an editorial from CASS CITY CHRONICLE
Cass City, Michigan
article was printed in 2001
On pet rescue
As a rescue worker for throwaway pets, I want to speak to the irresponsible 
pet owners in our area/county. The unwanted cats, dogs, puppies, and 
kittens in our county number in the thousands. Day after day I receive calls 
about abandoned puppies lying in snow banks starving, freezing, and crying. 
What were you thinking when you dumped them out of your vehicle and 
sped off? I also get calls about pregnant female dogs found by the side of 
the road bewildered, standing there, they watch each passing car knowing 
their owner/master who once seemed to love them will come back.
But you know you are never going back for her. What did you think she 
would eat or drink? What about shelter or a place to deliver her litter? It is 
after all entirely your fault she is pregnant because you did not have her 
spayed. Male dog owners who don't neuter and let their dogs run loose are 
equally responsible. Shame on you! 
The local Humane Society offers spay and neuter certificates to offset costs. 
We also have a shelter in this county in Caro with those certificates on hand 
as well. Both agencies provide shelter/foster placement for unwanted pets 
but you'd rather dump your animals. You don't want anyone to know who 
you are. Shame on you! 
The other day driving on M-81 a gray truck with two passengers pulled off 
the road. I watched as the passenger side door opened and a puppy was 
tossed in the snow. I saw you, I wrote down your license number and I 
picked up your shrieking puppy. Shame on you!
Calls come in about pets half-frozen in your own yard -- they have no food 
or water, no straw to help them keep warm. Your neighbors report you. 
They despise what you are doing to your pet. Why do you even have a pet? 
Shame on you!
I've had calls of kittens found in mailboxes. Boxes of puppies on railroad 
tracks, in ditches, and in parking lots. How can you sleep at night when you 
do these things? Shame on you!
I have lived in Caro since 1967. I have rescued, sought medical attention for 
and placed hundreds of unwanted animals abused and/or neglected by you. 
If you are a pet owner, get your animal "fixed." It is the only way to stop 
this insanity. If you have a pet and you don't want it, do the right thing, get 
that animal to a shelter. At least there they will have food, water, warmth, 
and a slim chance at being adopted by someone who does care. Keeping an 
unwanted pet is not fair to the animal, perhaps you'd enjoy being chained 
way out back with no food or water.
I live meagerly and go without to provide for unwanted pets. Other animal 
rescue workers and I pay for your stupidity. You don't deserve to be a pet 
owner; get a "pet rock" instead. It can live being neglected, tossed out of a 
car window, or stuffed in a mailbox.
In closing I want to thank Dr. Susan Hoppe of All Pets in Cass City and Dr. 
Carol Galka of Caro for seeing and charging the minimum for all God's 
creatures I've taken to them to examine and make well. Your expertise and 
generosity are so appreciated.
To you who throw away, starve, neglect, and abuse pets, may God have 
mercy on your soul.
Sandra L. Bassett