Abandoned! In Col.Sam Smith Park

[ravynne40]

This morning while walking around Sam Smith Park, in the wooded area behind the building with the chimney (where the bit haunt usually is) there was an pet hamper with 2 lovely kittens in it..well...
prior to that we saw a long eared bunny as well...I couldn't get the bunny, I did not see him again after....
why are people abandoning their animals in the park? The kittens looked very healthy, beautiful coats, they were just a little hungry and frightened.. I took them home untill we could find out if the animal shelter was open....
we ended up taking them to the animal shelter on the East Mall...

Kitten1


kitten2


Long Eared Bunny


I'm having a really hard time understanding this....and still...asking why....
Irene

[Matthew Strimas-Mackey]

Bob Barker was a wise man: "Help control the pet population. Have your pet spayed or neutered."

[ravynne40]

Yes he was wise...I'm still shaking my head in bewilderment at this..

[Anonymous]

They do it because they're stupid.  It costs nothing to surrender an animal to a shelter, and the consequences of releasing them into the wild (especially cats which become feral and breed more than that bunny would) are lost to people.

[Axeman]

We get a lot of feral and abandoned cats at our place -- not entirely sure why. We had a resident white ghost cat that lived at our place for approximagely 5 years. I think it has passed away b/c I have noticed another cat had taken over its territory. I've grown so used to having resident cats in the woods that they have become part of my organic landscape. I had been itching to write a rant a few weeks ago but I realized that the people who abandon their pets or irresponsibly refuse to have them fixed probably do not visit this board. But since you brought it up...I had noticed several weeks ago, that a "Moriss" type cat had moved into Ghost's woods. I had watched as it grew thinner, learn to mouse and hunt. Then one day...as suddenly as it had started, it was over. We found it one morning being picked at by Turkey Vultures on the road at the foot of our drive. Our 6 year old daughter was very upset at the sight of it. I hadn't realized that she too had grown fond of watching it skulk around. It didn't take long for it to be replaced. Now there is a tabby.

You might think I was cruel not to have fed it but once fed, they do not go away. And we have hundreds of these cats. Eventually they become road kill for the Turkey Vultures or an appetizer for coyotes.

We've even had someone dump an entire litter of Walker hounds. These poor beasts were in terrible shape once they had been round up -- starving and terrified. It would have been more human if the *$%&*#$ piece of #*&% had shot the poor things. This story had a happy ending. They're all in decent homes now.

[ravynne40]

Axeman, given the friendliness of the kittens, and the fact the white one was still very very white, I figure someone had just dropped them off and they hadn't been there for long, and you are correct the owners probably hadn't figured on the cost of neutering TWO kittens and the cost of vet bills etc.
it is sad ..it does happen..I remember seeing a feral main coon hunting birds and mice at Col.Sam Smith in the spring time, I haven't seen him in a while either. The six open cans of food surrounding the pet hamper tells me that those poor kittens did NOT eat them, there was a racoon snoozing in the tree above them, and lots of squirrels running around.  Anyways, I just couldn't leave them there, that would be inhumane. I didn't realize how common this was and how often this happens.
A real eye opener for me.

[Axeman]

A few years ago, I was pulling my little one on a sled when a fluffy black and white cat came bounding out of the woods, right up to our daughter...planted her front paws on our daughter's chest and begin licking her face...my little one was very surprised and didn't know what to make of it and then exclaimed "Look Papa...she likes me...she really really likes me !"...well our own two cats...a pair of miserable Siamese sisters would never let our daughter near them...I gave in and tried to bring this cat in but the Coven would not let her in...so I kept feeding her outside and we eventually found her a home because of her legendary good nature...she was adopted by a couple suffering from hep C and apparently brought a lot of joy into their lives...they have since both passed on.

[ravynne40]

Awww, I'm glad you found her a home. Siamese can be something else! (laughing at the "coven")