Important
Tips and Final Considerations
Finding
a home for your unwanted pet
If you are no longer able
to provide the attention and care your pet needs then get in touch with
a registered animal re-homing charity*. They will provide all
the help you'll need to find a new loving home for your pet. A good
re-homing organization will only pass on an animal to new owners who
are clearly able to provide all the love and care it needs. Only in
rare and hopeless circumstances would a very elderly and sick animal
be put down. In fact, most of the time animal sanctuaries will keep
the animal themselves rather than take such drastic steps.
Many animal sanctuaries have a no kill policy, however the UK's RSPCA
for example do NOT have a no kill policy. We recommend you search carefully
for an established re-homing organization in your area.
Do not under any circumstances try and pass the animal on to friends
or family. Statistics show that an animal burdened on unsuspecting people
- who would otherwise not have been considering a pet - is more likely
to become neglected. Even if that is not the case in your situation,
it's simply ignorant to pass on a "pet burden" to others.
Besides this, personal emotions and therefore clouded judgement means
friends and family cannot be clearly assessed as to whether they are
indeed competent carers themselves.
So bear in mind, that simply fobbing off your pet to family etc. is
a sure sign of your own irresponsible care. Your request for help plays
on the conscience of those you involve - who ultimately feel obliged
to help out. This may not be a good solution for both the animal and
the people you involve. You alone are responsible for taking the right
measures.
Remember, if you have to re-home your pet, consult a registered re-homing
charity with a no-kill policy ... that is the responsible route.
Choosing
a pet from a rescue organisation
Even a rescue organization may not
consider the finer details of location matching a rescued animal
for adoption. Although many will use their initiative to make sure
the match is suitable, there are aspects which must be addressed
to ensure the safety of the animal.
At VeggieGlobal we often hear of cats in particular, adopted from
rescue organizations who have fallen victim to road accidents within
a short space of time. A cat who has previously been bought up in
an environment away from traffic hazards will be unwise to the dangers
of roads. This why we suggest that if you are choosing a cat or
dog from a rescue centre, find out its history (if any) as regards
to its former living environment. If it has been brought up with
open access to roads and traffic it will be far more likely to have
wised up to the dangers. If not, and the animal is exposed to such
a danger it will simply not recognize the consequences of an approaching
vehicle while wandering across an expanse of tarmac, which they
don't even understand as being a "road". So ask questions
at your rescue centre ... Is the animal road aware through its previous
home surroundings? Is the animal height aware? In other words is
your home near high rocks, cliffs or even aspects of high buildings
with long drops? Is the animal noise-aware? In other words, are
you bringing an elderly animal into a noisy environment. Is it child
aware etc. Most of these aspects will be taken into consideration
by the rescue organization, but we must stress that "road aware"
is not often considered, and we wish to make rescue organizations
aware that such an aspect of the animal's well-being must be noted
as part of each adoption.
But as we have mentioned in this section, if you have a companion
animal make sure that you make it is hard as possible for the animal
to find its way to the roads near your house ... and never let it
out the front door. Allow it to establish its territory within a
safe distance from roads (more
here)
Quite
simply, VeggieGlobal and Looking-Glass strongly disagrees with keeping
any kind of bird in a cage. If you had wings and your purpose of life
was to fly perhaps thousands of miles, how would you like to be trapped
in a wired metal box only a few centimetres wide? Caging birds as pets
is a disgraceful and ignorant pastime.
For example, people in the UK who keep birds think that just because
a budgie, canary or parrot is not indigenous to their country - therefore
exotic - and hence ornamental - they aren't considered "natural"
life-forms. You wouldn't keep a sparrow or thrush in a cage, so why
a canary?
Viewing a creature non-native to your country as simply ornamental -
and therefore exploitative - is a moronic way of thinking.
The bottom line is don't keep birds, and that way you won't be encouraging
the depletion and extinction of exotic species taken from their natural
surroundings - just for the pleasure of western cultures.
If you want to take pleasure from birds then make your own backyard
a bird friendly environment by putting nesting boxes and feeders out.
(see the UK
Section in Wildlife Care for some
important tips about feeding birdlife)
As already mentioned, we recommend that you refrain
from buying animals from pet stores. Looking-Glass and VeggieGlobal
are against the commercial sale of animals. Use regulated re-homing
shelters to acquire a suitable pet *. Cats and dogs are breeds
of animals which have interacted with humans domestically over thousands
of years. And so these companion animals are quite happy to live amongst
us when they are generally free to roam and create sufficient territory
for themselves.
But exotic animal species will never be suited to captivity - and should
therefore never be bought as "pets".
However much space you provide most exotic species; it is simply never
enough to compare with their natural habitat, which can cover many square
kilometres or more.
Above all, the trafficking of exotic species is illegal and such animals
are being driven into extinction because of this black-market trade.
Please remember ... birds are meant to fly free ... not to be caged
up.
We cannot stress the following
points enough:
Think …
Never take on the ownership of a companion animal whimsically. Animal
ownership requires the right balance of location, exterior and interior
environment and fully dedicated human responsibility to make the "marriage"
work.
If you are no longer able to provide the attention and care your animal
needs for any reason, then please get in touch with a reputable registered
animal re-homing charity*. They will provide all the help you'll need
to find a loving home for him or her.
Think …
It's a sad fact that many "pet" owners display a very disproportional
view on animal welfare; pampering their own companion animals with little
or no thought for those fighting for their lives in the wild. If you
are a cat owner, take responsibility for it. A cat's instinct is to
kill, and it switches into this mode as soon as he or she is left alone
in a garden. Particularly during bird breeding season you must take
extra precautions to stop your cat from killing fledgelings, which drop
to the ground after flying from the nest for the first time. You cat
will take instant interest in these easy-to-kill and helpless baby birds.
If you hear a lot of bird activity in your garden you can be sure it
is the parents of fledglings and the fledglings themselves calling out
for each other. Keep your cat away from this activity and don't be tempted
to explore the source of the noise yourself as you may frighten the
parents away from their babies. (Only if you think a young bird has
been injured should you explore further - see
more here)
When you are at home keep an eye of your cat's whereabouts at every
opportunity - and if you go out keep the animal indoors whenever you
can. If a cat is meowing to to be let out you can be sure that it's
only because it has only one thing on his or her mind - to kill birds.
With around 300 million garden birds being killed by cats each year
in the UK alone ... and many of these species on the endangered list,
it is now more important than ever that you take full responsibility
for your cat's actions.
How To Share This
Planet With The Animals - Menu
|
How
to Share This Planet With The Animals...