Animals being bought and discarded like toys. WTF!

[Sibsmum]

I have just been reading about chickens , bought as pets in lockdown being dumped , literally in parks and tips , because they're no longer novel, no longer laying and bird flu concerns.
I can't abide people considering animals as things, they are live creatures and taking them on is a lifetime committment, not a quick human happy fix.
I would like every household that wants to keep a live animal, have to apply for a license and do a basic online care course to prove their commitment prior to purchase, and a formal registration afterwards which could be administered by a body like the RSPCA who end up dealing with so many unwanted pets.
It's really time we stopped seeing our fellow inhabitants of this planet as objects, and afforded them the respect, dignity and compassion that they deserve. They are live , sentient beings with feelings, not home decor , not accessories and not toys.
I would appreciate your sharing your thoughts.

I’m in the so the southern hemisphere so they get half naked and look bedraggled and awful at the coldest point in winter.
So I’d say late jan/feb for you?

One of ours is clever and looks at you like a raptor eyeing up how best to take you out and eat you.
But another is possibly the least smart creature I’ve ever met.
She stands in the rain looking at the sky getting wet.
We have had to save her in the middle of a hail storm. She just stood there in the garden with hail bouncing off her staring at the sky.
Softy is sweet and cuddly but so thick.

It's not just animals bought in lockdown being discarded though is it? People having been doing this for years.

I have quite a lot of friends involved in dog rescue and they have heard every pathetic excuse going for why people want to get rid of their dog. Having a baby is one of the most common ones. Why get rid of a dog because a baby is on the way? If you don't think dogs and babies mix then don't get a dog if you want children.

Also people getting rid of puppies because they have peed on the floor. That is what puppies do! Plus the majority of puppies are toilet trained far far quicker than any human baby.

The puppy cries in the night. Don't ever have a baby then

Also because a puppy is chewing things! Again that is what puppies do. Some try and pretend it is concern for the pup such as saying they are chewing wires. Well you should be making your home safe.

They have even had excuses such as people have a new settee/ carpet or whatever and the dog doesn't match.

Yes dogs can be hard work but children are, on the whole, harder work and people don't get rid of them do they?

@Ultimateblends

Came to really add, anyone thinking about chickens, we got some earlier in the year, I I had the books, done my research, got 3 chicks that have grown into large fluffy none laying chickens. I thought we were prepared. Absolutely not. We have a small terrace house garden which we had spent a long time on, nowhere in our care books did they say chucks would absolutely destroy the lawn, plants, dirt - everything. We have to feed, water and let out to free roam daily (not with bird flu outbreak) We are awaiting a bigger coop so they have space to roam now they can't be free ranged. They've never once laid and egg. Love pecking at me when I go out (it hurts!) Chicken shit everywhere. They're actually a nightmare

However. We brought them, we committed to them, so the chickens stay - shitting, eating, ruining the garden, not laying eggs

All the hard work and expense (food, straw, safe and adequate housing) really isn't worth the eggs that I one day hope they'll eventually start laying!

....and all this written by someone who has 3 dogs, snake & a African land snail.

I totally agree with the op, in every respect.

I used to work at a wildlife hospital, have looked after all sorts of birds and still wasnt prepared for how vicious a peck from a hen can be! I gave mine some sunflower hearts yesterday, made the mistake of scattering on the floor with my bare hand... won't do that again in a hurry, they swarmed around me before I could withdraw my poor vulnerable hand and I got pecked multiple times for my efforts... 🤣 (hint, hens love sunflower seed hearts). I do love them though and they're surprisingly affectionate at times.

Give yours some time to lay... mine (also acquired this year) seemed to take forever and suddenly they're laying loads!

On another note, could you fence off an area of garden for them? This is what I do, best of both worlds (free ranging for them and a garden that hasn't been trashed for me). In non-bird flu times, obviously! Currently pondering building mine an extension for their run... feeling sorry for them now they have to be kept in all day, despite their run being large!

A licence is a good idea in theory, but enforcing it would be problematic. You'd have to rely on people reporting those that don't have a licence really, and we know how mumsnet feels about reporting people.

Would love it though.

I can't even get the RSPCA out for an abused neglected dog, how on earth would they cope with reports of non licensed owners?
It'll never happen.
But you do need to pass a course in order to fly a drone!
Priorities eh

I think that a dog license would be possible. I wouldn't attempt it for other pets though.

There's going to be an absolute avalanche of unwanted/discarded pets when everyone goes back to work normally.
Already happened in China once www.scmp.com/lifestyle/family-relationships/article/3114112/tibetan-mastiff-dogs-ravaging-wildlife-mauling

And plenty of other countries have dog licences en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dog_licence

@Peacocking

I agree with most of the sentiment expressed on here, but I do find it a bit (lot!) hypocritical when most people eat animals that have lived short, agonisingly tortured lives in the foulest conditions followed by a terrifying and horrific death. Animals are all intelligent and sentient - even chickens are very bright, look up chicken intelligence research online. Why do we worry about the feelings of one type and have total disregard for any form of care for others? Yes, I eat a plant based diet, and find these sort of discussions so strange. Its like people pretend to themselves that they're anti animal cruelty while knowingly paying for animals to live and die horribly.

To be fair wild animals don’t live a charmed existence. It’s minus 1 degrees here and everything is hungry. Animals eat each other alive and raw; is that not a ‘terrifying and horrific death” despite it being natural.

A plant based diet is all well and good but what happens to the animals who also want to eat those plant based crops? They are killed, sprayed, poisoned. Or maybe you think growing all your crops in an artificial environment is better. And then think of all the natural habitat that destroys.

The thing about pets is that’s it’s a unnatural scenario for the animal and yet there’s no expectation that people have to know what they are doing. That’s not the same as livestock for breed for consumption. It’s not the case that animals get stuck in cage, fed and killed after six months. Farmers actually like animals and wildlife which us why they chose to work with them them. It’s back breaking, hard and relentless the very antithesis of getting rid of a puppy after it gets too much.

DH thinks our 1st year of eggs were about $25 each egg after feed, coop, grit, worming, no of plants destroyed (my chooks have an odd fondness for rosemary, thyme and any other soft herbs they peck, self favouring obviously) etc from chicks to point of lay.

Ours are in a light poly pipe coop that fits in top of our raised beds during the day and then we rotate, dig in, compost and replant with minimal garden destroying free ranging.

@edenhills -oh but I am. I am not advocating for any one species over another. The chicken story was just a catalyst for posting here about how I felt. I see you feel deeply about animal cruelty in all its forms too.

@Poppins2016 - Words fail me on the Wolfhound. That poor trusting little soul ( the dog I mean).
Glad you liked the term. My cats remind me daily, with a look, how fortunate I am to share their home and affection. I know I am, and willingly undertook to serve them all their days.

So you not already have dog licenses in England? I have to have one for my dog in Northern Ireland.

Not 'so', 'do' you not already have dog licenses?

Dog licences were abolished in 1987.

The licences were surprisingly expensive when they were first introduced. 7/6 in 1906 is equivalent to around £46 today.

Ours are £12.50 annually until you get your dog neutered or spayed and then it is £5 annually so it doesn't cost much but requires a registered microchip. I thought it would be UK wide.

enforcement is always the problem like the compulsory chipping of dogs, (soon to be cats as well I've heard) the responsible owners do it the rest don't and there is no way to enforce it, I'm sure the average bobby doesn't have a scanner on him and is possibly a little to busy to stop every dog he sees

Thewinterofdiscontent I see farmers deliberately and rapidly destroying anything or any place that might be rare or attract rare or endangered plants of animals. I live very rurally and this is first hand experience. Farmers (from what I see) want nothing that might bring and restrictions or hassles. So, no. I dont believe at all that (most) farmers like animals or wildlife.

Wild animals may not lead charmed lives. I'm not naive enough to think that. But breeding billions of animals a year and keeping most of them in intensive conditions up to their knees in their own shit, cutting their beaks and tails off to (unsuccessfully) stop them stress eating parts of each other is a whole next level of hell that can be totally avoided. Plant based diets aren't perfect but they're vastly better on every single level than the cruel meat and dairy farming, combined with the ecological damage and the vast barren deserts that are the fields livestock is kept in. And it would be quite nice to avoid a pandemic from chicken or pig farming too.

Humans are vile.

There should be licenses for animal ownership. And massively harsh penalties for none compliance.

And any fucker that is abusive should be taken to one side and shot.

The penalties, or rather lack of, for animal abuse are absolutely ludicrously lenient.

@Mypathtriedtokillme

I think people think hens are cute and fluffy but realistically they are garden destroying, stinky shitting machines on legs who actually take a fair bit of work to care for correctly. (We have 4 backyard hens and have had chooks for years) They haven’t taken the time past the Romance if backyard eggs to think it actually through. Plus most people don’t seem to know the stop laying and moult in winter (why you’d want to be half nude at the coldest time if year is an evolutionary oddity)

This made me chuckle as you have just described my lawn now mud pit .I have kept hens for years we currently have them in a poly tunnel due to avian flu .People don't realise hens like routine, no late lie it's past feeding time you will hear .I wouldn't be without my girls, makes my blood boil people dumping them because they didn't think it through .

Agree, agree , agree OP. So many pets let down by humans.

@Morana23

I completely agree OP, I see this with snakes we have taken in 3 this year and every day my inbox is literally full of alerts from freeads/Preloved etc. Most snakes are advertised as coming with the housing but it is almost always inadequate. Too small, no lighting/heating etc. We've spent a fortune on our boys and we adore them but just wish we could take in more think people see them as a novelty as they are exotic and unusual,then either get bored with them cos they don't actually do very much, or get too scared to handle them as they grow bigger. We have a defensive boa constrictor who came to us in a dark cold tank filled with excrement, hadn't been handled or cleaned out for a year as had been bought as a gift for a 9 year old he is making amazing progress but seeing so many ads each day infuriates me. How many other animals are suffering right now.

I also have a snake not as big as your's , I have a Ball python , have had him 7yrs now and I fully agree so many people take on exotics without realising just what Specialist care they need .

We should be surprised, there is a thread at the moment where there has been a relationship breakdown but both owners of the dog are still providing care.

One of the first comments was “get a new dog”.