Sarah, we have more animals than people in our house. We love them all and care for them all .......

[Stinky The Clown]

..... and yet every time I see or hear your ads on teevee, I feel guilty and I feel an upwelling of tears. I am at the point where I can not - literally - bear to look at the teevee and see those faces.

I can't do it, Sarah. I can't.

[lonestarnot]

1. I just had to turn one off.

:cry: I just can't watch them either. :hug:

[NMDemDist2]

2. I give $10 a month to DU, Mr. K give $10 a month to Sarah n/t

[norepubsin08]

3. I wonder if we started a national campaign

if we could get some funding for the SPCA and other like organizations

[bread_and_roses]

11. Enough so they can shelter and care for millions and millions indefinately?

Do you really think that's feasable? I don't. And what about the cases of cruelty and neglect that are never seen - or not until it is too late? And the pet "collectors/hoarders" - you know, the stories one reads regularly of someone with hundreds of flea bitten cats in a house somewhere?

The notion that donations and rescue will ever solve the situation is, I think, a comforting fantasy - just as the refrain "how can people act like that?" is a self-comforting evasion.

I have no problem repeating my own words on this topic:

Pet ownership is not an inalienable right. It should be regulated and those regulations
enforced. There will be no solution to this until we decide to strictly enforce licensing laws, require licensing cats - yes, I know, that strikes horror into many hearts but millions of cats suffer from being dumped, or born feral, or neglected - make licensing of un-neutered animals VERY expensive, licensing of neutered animals expensive enough to make people think twice about getting an animal in a society where people actually are FINED for having one if not neutered or licensed (I know - there are responsible low-income people who could not then afford pets. Well, then, THAT I say is an appropriate use of charity, not the endless $$ that are donated to shelters and rescues that in the end, do not dent the 4-6 MIllION euthanized dogs/cats every YEAR - the number I've read repeatedly.)

The AKC must somehow be required to do something to prevent "Puppy-Mill" puppies from getting "papers" - like requiring inspection of any premise before "papers" are issued to a puppy born there (I'm quite sure voluteers could be found for that job, for instance) and we must put the money from high licensing fees into animal control officers. And more if more is needed. Feral and neglected and abused animals are a hazard to humans and wildlife, besides suffering cruelly in a way that a civilized society should not tolerate.

I love both dogs and cats, have two rescued cats, used to have two rescued dogs. We live in a semi-rural area, and now we don't have dogs, the feral cats have appeared. I am feeding two now, in addition to our two. I would do more for them, but they are too fearful to get near. We don't live in the wilds anymore. We cannot continue to consider pet ownership some kind of inalienable right. Four to Six MILLION animals destroyed in shelters every year - or however many it is, that's just the number I've read repeatedly - it is too many, a social burden, an unbearable weight of cruelty, and it doesn't have to happen.

In virtually every other arena, we recognize that people will act in accordance with their own short-term self-interest or pleasure unless there are compelling reasons not to. Do we need a better example than those the last eight years have given us? Yet in this matter, most insist on voluntary and educational "solutions" that are useless. In the end, it is a willingness to put up with the endless cruelty to animals - because they are animals, I guess. Willingness, because as a society we refuse to take the steps that would minimize it.

[wildflower]

13. What do you mean by licensing?

[bread_and_roses]

16. ? You don't have dog liscensing where you live? (n/t)

[UTUSN]

4. What you said. n/t

[lamp_shade]

5. I find myself dashing to the TV sometimes just so I can have a good cry.

It's cleansing. My 19-year-old cat was laid to rest a year ago. It doesn't take much to get me crying.

[stuntcat]

14. and I can't not look..

Soon as those ads start I know I'm gonna lose it but I have to watch anyway. And I wear my ASPCA shirt proudly.

I hope they get through to some harder hearts out there who never think of what goes on.

[RB TexLa]

6. who is sarah and what are her ads?

[shireen]

9. Sarah McLachlan, SPCA ads. nt

[Kermitt Gribble]

7. Those commercials are tough to watch.

But they are definitely good at generating donations. When the first one first aired, I donated $50 immediately after seeing it. I can't really afford to be a monthly donor, but give whenever i can. I also did $400 worth of Christmas shopping at their online store!

[shireen]

8. i change the channel

i can't bear it either. I KNOW the magnitude of the problem, and just thinking about it hurts so much. I do what i can to help within my means, and when i encounter individuals having trouble supporting their pets, I try to help.

Same thing for all the misery in our world- starving people, wars, homelessness. I do what i can within my means.

It's overwhelming. It's more than we can bear.

So, to survive, I need to insulate myself, but do it without forgetting.

[Are_grits_groceries]

10. I change the channel faster than when Chimpster comes on.

I do give money to help, and I know the ads are effective. However,they are enough to put me on the edge of a major depression.

[SheilaT]

12. So glad someone asked who Sarah is

and what the ads are about. I don't have a TV, so I do miss a lot.

Anyway, I also have more animals (3 cats) than people (just myself) in the house and all are rescued cats and all are well loved and well taken care of.

I refuse to take responsibility for others' idiocy, such as breeding animals recklessly. People really do need to be educated about puppy mills, and need to question very carefully why so many formerly wonderful breeds now have serious physical or behavioral problems that didn't used to exist years ago. Bad breeding practices is why, thanks to ill-considered demand for purebreds as well as purebred "standards" that lead to such problems.

Personally, whatever animals I choose to have as companions will always be rescued ones.

[SammyWinstonJack]

15. Those ads are tough to watch, no doubt.

:cry:


I love this show


http://animal.discovery.com/tv/underdog-to-wonderdog/about.html