Poverty & Pups

My granny sent me this story from the NYT about how human poverty often has ramifications for pet populations with an increase in abandonment and neglect.

Midnight dumping of unwanted dogs is common here on the southern tail of the Appalachian Mountains, where large numbers of poor people are attached to multiple pets but cannot afford to sterilize or vaccinate them, and where impoverished county governments do not maintain animal shelters, require licensing or enforce requirements for rabies shots.

The combination of pets and poverty, veterinary experts say, brings similar results to many rural areas: unhealthy conditions for oversized animal populations, desperate efforts by often-overwhelmed individuals to help and a lurking threat to human health.

It's a sad story but also not so sad because we can actually DO something about this sad story. It reminds us how important Gomer & Opie's 10K for shelter dogs is. Also, Cubby works pretty hard for the Legacy Boxer Rescue and right now they are transporting a whole bunch of boxers to northern states where they can be adopted.

I came from a poor, rural area myself so I really feel for the dogs in the story. I'm sure that's why my ma ape sent me the story, to remind my ma ape to spoil me!