Homeowner Forum / Rural Living / July 2009

In article <4a504a1e$0$2823$5a62ac22@per-qv1-newsreader-
01.iinet.net.au>, ask@itshall says...

Oh absolutely, I go along with that all the way. Only a total idiot of a
farmer would neglect their animals to that degree, mind , since they are
his livelyhood, but like every walk of life there are total morons in
farming. Not to mention townies who buy a 'lifestyle block' and fill it
with a few sheep, a donkey, some goats and ducks and then never look at
any of the animals from a husbandry point of view. Then there's old
geezers for whom the whole thing just gets too much and they don't know
when to quit.  However, in many (not all) such cases a kind word & some
advice, a helping hand, or a trailer load of hay, would have better
results than a lawsuit. IMO. Granted, there are idiots who will take
neither help nor advice, and they should be stopped from having critters
in their care.

But our local spca was run by a kind of veg(etari)an zealot for years
now, and he was in the suing racket. Watch some cattle stand up to their
bellies in water due to a flash flood and then spend tens of thousands
suing the owner and his wife who were 2 hours drive away in hospital a
the bed of a dying relative at the time. That kind of thing rankles,
more so because it wasn't an isolated example. He'd also write articles
for the newspaper suggesting people should stop fishing cause it causes
hurt to the fish .... etc. (Not that I care for fishing, but, well, it
illustrates the kind of guy). He's been kicked up the ladder now, and no
longer in this area a.f.a.i.k. but I imagine this culture will persist.

I rather lost it with incredulity though, when they were placing big
articles in the paper how they had their shelters overflowing with
kittens and puppies at X-mas time, and so I instructed my nephew to go
pick up a kitten at the Auckland spca on his way up for the holidays.
SPCA gave him 3 forms to fill in, told him they couldn't give him any
'cause he was only 18 and not the householder and then told him they
wanted $85 for a kitten ---- In the end he left them standing, went to a
pet shop and got me a kitten for $35. Vaccinated, with a voucher for 1
vet visit, a second vaccination and a small bag of kitten-bikkies thrown
in.  As I said: they're a ship of fools. I thought to help them out by
taking one of their kittens away, but they'll rather kill them (and then
beg for donations 'cause it kosts $ 100 to kill a kitten THEIR way) than
hand one over. Pshaw. Wouldn't give them a book of used matches after
all that.

If I had any serious animal welfare concerns, I'd got to the ministry
for Ag and Fish these days, they're professionals at least and there's
always the chance you'll find somebody half-way intelligent in the
office.

-P.