That's strange!

But I think it's even stranger that I live in a nice neighborhood and NO ONE drops off strays. People here go BUY rescue dogs or pure breds from a breeder. My next door neighbor paid $2K for 2 pomeranians. Another neighbor paid $250 for her run-of-the-mill rescue cat.

Why don't people drop off strays in an area where people can afford to KEEP the little guys? or we could use our computer skills to give them away on CL?

I found my free cat on CL. :0) Love that little guy!

We get strays every so often.

People think that they are doing the cats or dogs a favor by dropping them off in the country.

We do have an animal shelter now that I can call, but I will be real honest. If there is a pack of dogs running - they will be shot. If not by me, one of my neighbors will. Dog packs are not tolerated at all, and they are dangerous.

We do try to find the home of a stray though, if at all possible. .

Our Free section on Kijiji is loaded with offers of free cats and dogs. I do get frustrated though because "everyone" is allergic to the cats.

Sorry, but people are just using animals as disposable property. No one seems to want the long-term responsibility of a 4-legged family member.

One poster said they just bought a house, and they have no room for their cat. Huh?? What did they do, buy an out-house???

Another reason for drop-offs is the Humane Society is expensive for some people to take their pets. It's $70 if you want to take your pet there.

I live in one of those nice neighborhoods where you never see a stray animal. People probably buy very expensive pets. I've adopted a few from shelters at various prices. About 13 years ago a stray black cat showed up under a neighbor's deck - very unusual. These people had no pets and wanted no pets so after getting a tearful call from one of their kids about the cat, we ended up adopting it. I always felt like someone did drop that cat off in an area where they thought someone would take care of it.

Welcome to my world. What you experienced is a daily occurrence where I live. People drive far away from their homes and drop off helpless animals all the time. I don't know what they're thinking and if they did some analysis, they would understand that it's fiscally responsible to spay/neuter. The rescue groups down here just can't keep up with the amount of animals so not all of them get the care they need. I hope the folks who picked up the puppies (if there were any) take care of them.

My husband used to bring home puppies every day, which is how we found out about the different rescue groups in our area (I am affiliated with 6).

The two cats I have were in similar situations but one was fortunate enough to have someone feeding him. The "older" one was knocking on death's door when we found him. They are both happy and healthy!

I've lived in those neighborhoods where people have dropped off their unwanted pets. No fun. These poor animals were kept until the cute wore off. We've seen several adolescent mixed breed dogs with no training. The neighbor kids were terrified of them. Outside cats probably didn't make it more than a day or two because of the coyotes.

It was hard to find the animals a home after a while. Most of us already had pets and really didn't have room for more. I had found my dog injured and dumped on the side of the road. The cat came from a rescue for $75 to cover shots. Some neighbors had purchased their animals. Many had gotten them from a rescue or had rescued them.

Nicole, CL is the worst place to list pets. People get them for dog fighting training. Our shelters here constantly remind people never to list an animal as "Free to a good home".

Linda_in_Iowa.....there's always someone doing something illegal or abusing a system. There is NO perfect way for a pet to be adopted.

If 75% of the CL animals get GREAT homes that's better than the adoption rate at the Humane society.

Note: Our Humane Society does NOT charge to take in a pet. They "are" a kill shelter. They tell you when your dropping a pet off that they don't have room and it will be put down immediately because of space constraints. Which scares people into dumping their pets.....

My glass is half full and I'm going to try to find a home for animals.

This post was edited by nicole__ on Thu, Apr 17, 14 at 15:53

Linda, I was told years ago that people should always ask for money when re-homing a pet. People scout free ads for use in animal-testing as well.

I posted that on Kijji and got slammed for my opinion, someone from the University wrote saying that was blatantly an untrue fact. I still stand by it.

I've never heard of any animal fighting in my parts, but that's not to say it doesn't happen. :(

"Give them away on CL" - ACK!

Sore spot. CL is dangerous for pets. And free pets can reinforce a sense of low value. Who knows where the pets end up, how many times they're shuffled along, or what might be done to them.

At least in a shelter they're cared for and prospective adopters have to pay something and are at least screened as much as possible.

Yes, sorry, sore spot. No offense intended to the poster. Education is needed for responsible pet ownership.

I've gotten several dogs from CL. One, a pit, would have been euthanized by several of the shelters around here.
Be as sore as you want, CL unites owners and dogs needing homes hundreds of times a week and multiplied by all the CL communities, probably is responsible for good homes for tens of thousands of dogs.
It isn't perfect. If you are waiting for perfect, you gonna be waiting' for a while. Meanwhile, my loved dogs thank CL :)

My cousin lives on a farm. People frequently drop off puppies and kittens. She has a barn so they figure they'll be fine. But they're not. She calls her town's Animal Control who round them up and get them euthanized. So sad. Wish the people who did this would be prosecuted.

This post was edited by jannie on Sat, Apr 19, 14 at 8:41

As it turns out I think we misheard the message on the phone. I'm pretty sure our friend said "fox puppies". A mother fox has set up a den in the culvert pipe that goes under our driveway.
Just yesterday I saw the mother and one of the babies under a tree near there, and others have said they saw three fox pups playing there.

It's worrysome though, since its right by the road and a couple of people have said they saw the pups playing in the road.

the city of Detroit is riddled with free running dogs...everyone seems to think they need pitbulls and then don't train them or they've attacked, and let loose...

Bob, after reading your post, all I could think of was Emily Litella voicing her opinion about people dropping puppies (like we all did) and then saying "Fox puppies? Oh. Well that's different. Never mind".

That makes them kits, not puppies!
I am way out in the country and people often drop off animals. One dropped off a chihuahua AND a big bag of food by one of our barns. We saw the little bugger several times, but couldn't get close enough to catch him. After a few days the dog was gone and so was all the food leaving only an empty bag. I'm thinking he was the appetizer to whatever ate the bag of food.
Another dropped off a pit tied to a cinderblock on the side of the road. So cruel!

So-called "people" leave pet rabbits in parks because they think grass is all they need. I have three rescue rabbits, all beloved family now, and believe me rabs are a lot of work, money and care.
I sincerely hope that all of the dumpers get abandoned, dumped, starved, and endure cold/heat and fear themselves.