A pet is not a toy. A pet is not a toy. Rinse. Repeat.
By Gina Spadafori
December 16, 2007
Two years ago, a couple days after Christmas, a girl of 11 or so approached me as I was coming out of Petsmart.
“Do you want a free baby bunny?” she asked. She had been crying, and she held a tiny brown bunny. I talked to her for a few minutes, and figured out — a little reading between the lines — that non-custodial dad had decided at the last minute to give his kid a baby bunny, without a shelter, food or dishes. Custodial mom had nixed this idea, and had driven the kid to Petsmart parking lot to dump the bun.
“If I can’t get rid of it,” said the kid, “mom says to just turn it loose in the parking lot.”
I took the bunny. I didn’t take the urine-soaked cardboard box he’d been living in or the wilted iceberg lettuce that had been standing in for food. Instead, I put the soft little guy on my shoulder and drove home, assuring the girl that her rabbit had found a good home. I’m not sure she really cared, and I am quite sure neither of her idiotic parents did.
Velocity is still with me. I had him neutered and he lives happily on a healthy diet of grass hay and fresh greens.
Heaven knows how many throwaway pets that family has gone through since. Honestly, it makes you wish people had to pass a test to be parents.
I’m thinking of that story because he’s happily munching his favorite meal — beets with the greens left on them — and because over on Lassie Get Help, Luisa has a good post on the same subject, albeit about dogs in particular. Go over and see what the U.S.D.A. believes is a space large enough that “breeding stock” need never leave it. What she says about people not knowing about puppy mills is sadly quite true. Christie and I have both been stunned to realize that many people have no idea. (That’s like how when the Michael Vick thing first broke, a guy I work with said, “I don’t see what’s the big deal. When I was growing up our dog would fight sometimes. Dogs fight, right.” He didn’t realize that this wasn’t a couple of dogs scrapping at a dog park, and he was blissfully unaware of organized dog-fighting.)
None of the regular readers here would buy a pet without any planning — and I surely hope none would support a puppy mill by buying from a pet store or direct-sale Internet puppy site — but if your Web browsing has brought you here because you’re looking for for a last minute gift … please stop and think.
Better you should teach your child compassion and responsibility than that living, feeling animals are something to toss into a parking lot because you can’t be bothered. Because it seems to me that a child who grows up with such an attitude isn’t going to look too kindly on the needs of aging parents.
Just saying.
Isn’t that the truth? That a kid with a derelict attitude toward pets will carry that same attitude towards people in his lifetime? So sad.
I can’t even begin to count the number of people I’ve known who got their pets on impulse - no planning. It’s not logical. With a child you plan. You outfit living quarters, you buy clothes and supplies. You get READY ahead of time. But somehow these people [many of whom swear they are religious] simply don’t understand that pets deserve the same courtesy.
I remember looking through the window one day and saw my neighbor unloading her car. Out came a big new dog bed, bags with a pet store label filled with toys, food…… I couldn’t resist, so I went outside to scope the situation. Turns out they adopted a rescued pet and that weekend were going to bring it home. Yes, that dog was WANTED.
I wish all pets could be as lucky.
Comment by Lynn — December 16, 2007 @ 2:05 pm
Our county shelter is taking in 3-5 dogs A DAY right now. One or two are redeemed. Two litters of puppies were found in boxes by the side of the road in just the last couple of weeks. What the H… is going on? Is it just up here behind the Redwood Curtain or are other shelters seeing an upswing? We’re moving dogs to rescues as fast as we can, up to four at a time, and we can’t get ahead. Adoptions are happening, but not fast enough.
We get the occasional rabbit who, probably, had the unmitigated gall to not stay cute and small, but they get adopted pretty fast. Velocity is a lucky bunny.
A question for any rabbit people on the blog. We have four indoor/outdoor cats that do hunt sometimes, mostly gophers. Is it remotely possible or even responsible to have a house rabbit in a home with cats? I’ve been on the House Rabbit Society’s website, but I’m interested in what you all think.
Are there curriculum materials available to help teachers teach responsibility and compassion for our fellow creatures since it’s clear that too many parents don’t have a clue and aren’t likely to find one?
FYI-by “popular demand” I have posted a couple of pond pictures on my blog at http://www.foxstudio.wordpress.com
Enjoy.
Comment by Susan Fox — December 16, 2007 @ 5:16 pm
Susan - Gunther, a bunny I had until he died about 20 years ago, used to sleep on the windowsill with the cat and they were good friends. There were two dogs in the household (including a terrier that was hell on gophers) who liked the cat and rabbit too. It was a very accommodating set of pets, but one of my current cats (the one from Baghdad) barely tolerates me in the house, and a bunny would be toast.
Comment by Carol PW — December 17, 2007 @ 7:14 pm
I say there’s hope for the girl - she was crying, and being forced to get rid of something soft and beautiful. She may remember the pain and the grief and the love of the bunny all her life, and when she is grown, she may bring rescue animals into her home to make up for dumping Velocity.
People used to dump dogs in my area when I was a kid, and my dad would never let us keep any that crawled into our yard looking for help. I have never forgotten the look on their faces, and I think of them while I volunteer at the county shelter, and when I look at my rescue cats and dogs.
Comment by shadepuppy — December 18, 2007 @ 8:50 am
I agree that the little girl may come away with a different lesson than the one we fear. She may remember how the bunny was used as cannon fodder in the ongoing infantile feud between her parents, in which she, too, is a weapon of convenience. A hard lesson in life, but one that can nurture compassion for other beings.
When I repossessed a dog from a family who had slipped through the screening radar, my biggest concern was the young boy who had left my house with a puppy in his arms years before. He was not the one who destroyed the poor dog emotionally, neglected his physical needs, violated almost every core clause of the contract, ducked my follow-up inquiries, and finally called me to take back the mess they had made. (Indeed, this boy had done well in teaching the dog tricks and a few obedience commands, all on his own.) While we loaded the prodigal puppy into my car, sans parents, I told him as clearly as I could, “This is not your fault. You did not fail your dog. You don’t have the power to have fixed this, not because you aren’t a strong person, but because you aren’t old enough to drive yourself to class, pay the vet bill, or otherwise carry out the actions that needed to happen for this dog.”
I’m just hoping that when this kid is an adult, processing his parents’ multitude of failures, that this little bit of validation from the strange adult, the woman who took his dog away (but also saved his dog from death) will help with that: It’s unjust to make the powerless feel guilty about those things they could not change. Sometimes the only thing an adult can do is leave a little virus with that guilty-feeling, grieving child. The virus is permission to externalize one’s anger and grief. It can replicate into a sense of compassion for the powerless, while immunizing against crippling guilt.
Comment by H. Houlahan — December 18, 2007 @ 9:59 am
I say there’s hope for the girl – she was crying, and being forced to get rid of something soft and beautiful. She may remember the pain and the grief and the love of the bunny all her life, and when she is grown, she may bring rescue animals into her home to make up for dumping Velocity.
I can vouch for that. When I was a kid, our dogs and cats were constantly roaming the neighborhood and disappearing. Litters of puppies were routinely taken to the pound or given away free, and my dad openly admitted taking the dog to the garbage dump and leaving her when he couldn’t deal with the puppies anymore. He thought it was funny that she found her way home. I have two cats and I like to think I learned not to imitate his example.
Incidentally, my son’s adopted, so I did have to pass a test to be a parent.
Comment by Diane — December 18, 2007 @ 11:06 pm
How you can you say you thought the child might not really care? If she was crying its obvious she was sad! What was she to do! The mom didnt want the bunny and what mom says has to be done.She probably had no other choice..poor girl..I dont mean to sound snippy its just that my friend went through the same thing and it irritates me when inconsiderate conclusions are made.
Comment by Lena — May 25, 2008 @ 9:36 pm
I can not believe parents are teaching their children such blatant disregard for the creatures we share our planet with.
I hope this unfortunate incident serves as a memory to that little girl that makes her want to do the opposite of what her parents taught her and make future choices about pets that include planning, education and devotion.
Its terrible she had to give up her pet, whom I am sure she loved. Its worse that her parents didn’t care what happened to Velocity.
I am glad she found Gina, so that the bunny didn’t end up euthanized or in another home that had adults who care so little about the wellbeing of animals.
Comment by Hilary — May 26, 2008 @ 2:57 am