Disturbing Trend

[Wingfoot]

Originally Posted by BrokenTap

I kind of figured this was going to happen...as the economy tanked and more people began to raise their own livestock and be homesteaders, I am seeing more and more abandoned animals. Worse yet I am seeing more animals that need to be down, and yet they cannot bring themselves to do so.

Case in point was a donkey that I thought would protect my sheep. That donkey turned out to be more harmful to the sheep then coyotes! So as promised, I called the lady who loaned me the donkey and she came up and got him. Instead of taking it home, she gave it to someone else. She could not bring herself to do the right thing and have it put down. If I had known it was going to be passed off to another person, I would have smoked the animal myself and got the dangerous animal out of existence. For society, that is what's right.

Then a few weeks ago I had a person drop off a Ram. Same thing, the ram was very nasty but they could not bring themselves to put it down. I figured with my vast farming experience maybe I could help educate it, but 3 weeks in it was apparent this was yet another animal that needed to be taken out. It smashed through the boards of my sheep shed 3 times before I decided it was a 3 strikes and you are out sort of deal, and shot the thing. If it's too dangerous for me to get around and my knowledge of animal behavior, then imagine if it ever got loose and someone else got tangled up with it.

And in years past I put lots of cats and dogs down for people. They lacked the money to pay the vet to do it, and so they came to me, gave me a sad story, I did what they wanted, handed them back (in a box of course as I refuse to do the digging) and everyone was glum, but did what had to be done. But in 2004 I had to stop. I did something like 300 kills that year alone and was tired of the same old stories and all the killing. I'm not about that. I told people I retired from it, and pretty much did. I was just sick of it.

The point is, if you decide to take any animal, whether it be cats, dogs, sheep, goats or cows...take care of them. Every animal has costs so if you cannot afford to keep them, don't get them. Yes you can raise a beef cow for 50 cents a pound when its all said and done, but when you slaughter it, it will cost you an upfront cost of $500 bucks. You might not have that kind of cash then...or the room in the freezer for it...so plan ahead. And hay, grain and shelter all costs time and money too.

Be wary of getting odd-ball animals too. Many can not be easily slaughtered or sold to the masses as was promised by snake oil salesman pitching their greatness. Alpacas, Emu's Bison and other rather niche market animals come to mind.

And unfortunately animals live far shorter lives then we do. That means its your responsibility as a animal owner to take care of that animal from birth to death. Yes I said death. Don't pass the aged or sick animal onto someone else. I realize its a hard thing to do, but I also realize it is something YOU NEED TO DO! Take it to a vet, or do the animal in yourself, but euthinization is just one more aspect of animal husbandry. It should not be left for someone else to do.

People that love their animals put them down when necessary, people caught up in their own sentimentality,don't.

[Cali BassMan]

Well here's the other extreme, when my wife's favorite horse died (she had him 31 years) we had him cremated. We got a fancy box with a plaque and a picture. It cost me $1,300.00 but it was what she wanted.