It is a perfect, spring day in New York City after what has been a week of mostly rain, dreary skies and storms.
Unfortunately, "storms and dreary skies" seems descriptive of the general animal situation in New York and one imagines, elsewhere.
News headlines, in addition to more mundane matters bespeak troubled times.
A teenage girl placed a 6-month-old kitten in the oven last week and burned the animal to death as vengeance against her lesbian lover. When asked why she did this, the 16-year-old answered, "I don't like cats."
There is presently a letter-writing campaign to the Bronx DA who is handling the case.
A person who commits this kind of heinous and depraved act is deeply disturbed and cannot simply be set free in the community. Such rage issues do not confine themselves to animals alone. That law enforcement is generally lax on animal cruelty shows an incredible denial of what should be simple and recognized fact: Violence is violence, regardless of who its victims are.
More bad news for animals: Mayor Bloomberg and other city leaders have decided to basically wage war against Canadian Geese, many of whom live around the airports.
A plan has been devised to shoot and kill at least 2,000 geese, supposedly as means to "prevent" possible airline collisions with the birds when planes take off or land at Kennedy or Laguardia airports.
One wonders, in this day and age, why plane engines can't be designed to not suck in birds?
Even if the city succeeds in killing 2,000 geese, how does that prevent ducks or other birds from being sucked into airline engines? What about the few geese that manage to escape the guns? Could they not be sucked into engines and cause a plane to go down?
This is just one more example of government "knee jerk" reaction that does little or nothing to actually address problems and fully prevent tragedies, but instead "punishes the many" for the errant ways of the few or is done primarily to give the public a false sense of security that "something is being done" when in fact, nothing concrete is.
It's like frisking little old ladies who get on planes in so-called "searches" for terrorists.
Or, like banning pets from apartment buildings because some tenants (whether owning animals or not) are irresponsible.
In none of these cases are the cores of the problems actually addressed.
More bad news this past week are the "Euth lists" from our shelters.
As always in the spring and summer, really, really bad.
And one more example of government agencies "killing" the results of problems, rather than addressing the causes - human irresponsibility.
The problem with all of these "solutions" is that they are no solutions at all, but merely perpetuate and guarantee that whatever the "problem" is, it will continue unabated.
I have been in animal rescue work now for twenty years. But, more and more, I see matters merely becoming "hopeless."
Rescue too, addresses results, rather than causes.
And as such, merely guarantees that there will always be perpetual "need" for it.
We are like an old song from the 1950's by Vaughn Monroe:
"Then cowboy, change your ways today or with us you will ride
Forever trying to catch the devil's herd
Across these endless skies." -- PCA
Unfortunately, "storms and dreary skies" seems descriptive of the general animal situation in New York and one imagines, elsewhere.
News headlines, in addition to more mundane matters bespeak troubled times.
A teenage girl placed a 6-month-old kitten in the oven last week and burned the animal to death as vengeance against her lesbian lover. When asked why she did this, the 16-year-old answered, "I don't like cats."
There is presently a letter-writing campaign to the Bronx DA who is handling the case.
A person who commits this kind of heinous and depraved act is deeply disturbed and cannot simply be set free in the community. Such rage issues do not confine themselves to animals alone. That law enforcement is generally lax on animal cruelty shows an incredible denial of what should be simple and recognized fact: Violence is violence, regardless of who its victims are.
More bad news for animals: Mayor Bloomberg and other city leaders have decided to basically wage war against Canadian Geese, many of whom live around the airports.
A plan has been devised to shoot and kill at least 2,000 geese, supposedly as means to "prevent" possible airline collisions with the birds when planes take off or land at Kennedy or Laguardia airports.
One wonders, in this day and age, why plane engines can't be designed to not suck in birds?
Even if the city succeeds in killing 2,000 geese, how does that prevent ducks or other birds from being sucked into airline engines? What about the few geese that manage to escape the guns? Could they not be sucked into engines and cause a plane to go down?
This is just one more example of government "knee jerk" reaction that does little or nothing to actually address problems and fully prevent tragedies, but instead "punishes the many" for the errant ways of the few or is done primarily to give the public a false sense of security that "something is being done" when in fact, nothing concrete is.
It's like frisking little old ladies who get on planes in so-called "searches" for terrorists.
Or, like banning pets from apartment buildings because some tenants (whether owning animals or not) are irresponsible.
In none of these cases are the cores of the problems actually addressed.
More bad news this past week are the "Euth lists" from our shelters.
As always in the spring and summer, really, really bad.
And one more example of government agencies "killing" the results of problems, rather than addressing the causes - human irresponsibility.
The problem with all of these "solutions" is that they are no solutions at all, but merely perpetuate and guarantee that whatever the "problem" is, it will continue unabated.
I have been in animal rescue work now for twenty years. But, more and more, I see matters merely becoming "hopeless."
Rescue too, addresses results, rather than causes.
And as such, merely guarantees that there will always be perpetual "need" for it.
We are like an old song from the 1950's by Vaughn Monroe:
"Then cowboy, change your ways today or with us you will ride
Forever trying to catch the devil's herd
Across these endless skies." -- PCA
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