The Chanticleer

Issue date: 3/29/07 Section: Features

They have saved lives, they have found hiding criminals, they even lead the blind around when there is no one else there, and they are man's best friend. Can someone tell me, then, why there are so many stray dogs running around on the streets when there are so many good homes they could be going to?

According to recent numbers, there are thousands of stray animals all over the country, and unless people start having their pets spayed and neutered, those numbers are not going to decrease all that much in the future.

Animal control is a subject that really bothers me. Having already adopted two dogs, Abby and Beck, from rescues, I know that there is always something that can be done to help. Both dogs were adopted when they were around nine weeks old. Abby is now three, and Beck just turned one.

Let me tell you a story, and for those of you who have already heard me complain about this, I apologize.

It was a Saturday night around 1 a.m., and my boyfriend and I were headed home from a rare night out at the local bars. As we drove around the Square in town, we saw two lab puppies tearing up a trash can in their hectic search for some kind of food. As we continued on our way home, I tried to get the images of the two starving animals out of my mind by thinking of every possible excuse I should not go back to help them. "They probably have rabies . . . or mange. Maybe they just got out of their yard and someone is out looking for them right now."

Obviously, I discarded these ideas for what they were - excuses - and I knew what I had to do. So after I changed my clothes and filled a huge tupperware container with dog food, my boyfriend and I found ourselves back in the car and headed up to the Square.

Friendly as ever, as soon I stepped out of the car, the dogs came right up to me and sniffed my hand, deciding I was the type to help. In probably five minutes, both dogs had devoured the entire container of food we brought them.

I had no idea what to do from there, so we put them in my car and went up to the Jacksonville Police Department for guidance. After explaining my predicament to the lady at the desk, she informed me that there was nothing she could do and no one she could call because it was the weekend and the local animal control only worked during the week.

With my heart going out to these two well-behaved puppies, we decided to take them home with us and house them until Monday. I would have brought them in the house with us, except our dogs were inside and we could not be sure they did not have some kind of disease that we did not want passed on to our lovable mutts. So we kept them outside for the weekend until we could have them picked up on Monday.

The whole experience really bothered me and the problem has become more apparent that homeless animals are all over the place and can be found on every corner. I have called animal control so much that I actually have their number programmed into my cell phone.

I wish people would realize that just a little love towards an animal can go such a long way. Many people do make the choice to adopt a pet, but once the "fun" wears off they just let them go, which makes an already bad situation worse. There are many alternate ways to help an animal besides adopting, such as donating time or money to local shelters. Even having your pet spayed or neutered can help so much.

Some shelters have a no-kill policy, but many end up having to put animals down just because lack of space.

Really, this is more of a plea to all those people who think that there is nothing they can do. There really is always something that can be done. So please get out and help these poor animals. They only want to make you happy . . . and be loved.

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