I'm appalled by the attitude that ten days of surviving on its own ruins a pet. I've rescued feral cats as well as dogs that have been on the streets. It is quite doable.
The throw-away attitude some are showing here is pretty sickening and ill-informed. Do you tell anyone with a missing pet that they are better off putting the pet down if it has been gone for more than ten days????
New Orleans has numerous vacant houses because people evacuated to get out of the way of the storm. Those that didn't evacuate are having to be rescued and accounted for. Oh, did you hear large parts of New Orleans flooded? More feral animals with less ground to hunt and gather good drinking water on.
Don't even give me that throw away attitude you're trying to use to guilt people into trying to save former, now feral pets. Pets haven't had strangers feeding them on occasion because there wasn't enough to be had by those that chose to stay behind. Pets aren't pets any longer after they've survived the horrific conditions these animals have. They're now effectively wild animals with all of the issues that go along with becoming feral.
Tell me who's boiling the abandoned animals water to keep them from getting parasites or getting sick? Tell me who's going to have the time or the money to spend to cure these feral animals of any diseases they contracted in storm ravaged New Orleans? Tell me who's left to help keep the animals socialized? Convince me the animals aren't turning feral in order to simply survive. Prove to me they're safe to have around now after having been feral out of necessity.
You want to see throw away animals, come to my house and see the four I rescued. The terrier mix was being allowed to play in the street and he fit in the palm of my hand. And yes, I know how big he was because he was tick and flea infested so I had to give him a bath the first night he spent with me. I held him in one hand and lathered/rinsed him with the other hand.
Come visit the full blooded lab that was allowed to run the street and showed up at my back door with a male lab trying to mount her even though she wasn't in heat. I live in a town of 4500 and NO one called to claim her from the dog catcher's office. Normally they only let a dog live for 5 days before they're euthanized. I offered and my offer was accepted to foster her rather than have her stuck in a small cage at the pound. We decided to adopt her and the day the dogcatcher came over with adoption papers, my lab got so excited to see another friend she jumped off the porch. Since I had her on a leash, she took me with her. I ended up being taken by ambulance because I couldn't move. Turned out I sprained my already broken neck and broke the ball off the long bone on my left arm. So be appalled because I adopted her anyway.
One of my cats was a feral kitten my then mother-in-law managed to tame to touch. I've had her for 16 years. Tell me again about throw-away attitudes.
My last cat was adopted from the Houston SPCA. They had her hidden behind the door in the ready-to-adopt cat room. They had her hidden because she'd been weaned way too young. Her gums were blue gray and she was so weak she couldn't even meow. I had to sign a special document waiving any right whatsoever to bring her back if she got sick. Heck, she was already sick. Somehow or another though I managed to nurse her back to health some 17 years ago.
Do you tell anyone with a missing pet that they are better off putting the pet down if it has been gone for more than ten days????
Given the horrendous conditions the animals are having to live in in New Orleans, yes I'd advocate them doing the humane thing and euthanizing their beloved pet because their beloved pet has lived through a horrendous time and we don't have a way of treating PTSD successfully in animals yet.
Tell me which natural disaster with flooding, disease, bad water and a lack of food you rescued your feral pets and tell me, are you taking care of them now? Or did you simply rescue them and leave the problems to others to deal with.
Do you tell everyone an abandoned pet makes an excellent replacement pet?
Get a clue. Give some thought about how some of the so-called humans are treating each other and they can be talked to and hopefully reasoned with. Now, give some thought about a poor dumb animal that has no way to communicate or to be communicated with.
You're appalled? I'm sickened by so called do gooders who don't give a thought to the trauma and pain these poor, defenseless animals have been subjected to. But by gosh, we have to save them even if they are diseased, extrememly malnourished, been running in a pack and killing other animals.
I'm appalled by the attitude that ten days of surviving on its own ruins a pet. I've rescued feral cats as well as dogs that have been on the streets. It is quite doable.