County might be good partner – January 4, 2006

County might be good partner for group aiding neglected pets

Web-posted January 4, 2006

EDITORIALSSome people seem to believe it’s not cruel to neglect basic care for animals under their control. When they are irresponsible, which is far too often, we must be thankful that others – mostly volunteers – try to look after the animals’ welfare.

Most of them are dogs who summer and winter are chained in their owners’ yards, presumably to act as watchdogs.Too often they lack adequate shelter, have too little to eat and the most typical and perhaps worst cruelty of all – too little water to drink.

Our Monday story described the vital efforts of the Animal Care Network to help the dogs. The mostly volunteer organization sends people out in response to calls from neighbors concerned about the fate of the animals. They try to make sure the dogs immediately get what they need most and attempt to teach the dogs’ owners about their proper care and feeding.

In some cases, the owners simply aren’t aware of what their animals need; in others, they just don’t care. Then there are owners who are annoyed that the Care Network has intervened.

But the fact is that if we abuse an animal, knowingly or not, and we should know what abuse is, we also should expect to lose the animal.

The Animal Care Network is struggling financially and would like to be a partner with the city of Pontiac, for example, in dealing with the problem. But Pontiac has serious fi nancial problems of its own.

The work needs to be done, nonetheless. Perhaps this is another service that could best be coordinated at the county level.

A good place to live needs to be good for pets, as well as people.

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