A message from your friendly neighborhood Animal Control Officer (All over NJ) Hi, nothing hurts more then when you lose a pet. Doing the job I do in animal control/shelter work I deal with this EVERYDAY. A lot of times the pet wandering off is due to ignorance and poor understanding of animals. Although this may seem harsh and flag-able heres some facts from the frontline of the animal welfare world. 1. If your dog/cat isnt neutered or spayed they are going to be more prone to getting lost. Some dogs are runners and will take off when the door is open, but they are much more prone to run when they are in plain english looking for a mate. It is the animals natural born instinct to reproduce and a fence will not stop that. Also, there is no reason your dog should be unaltered. Breeding animals of any sort is just as good as killing them. The shelter I am in holds 24 dogs. Guess what happens with dog number 25 comes in? One goes out in a garbage bag. So PLEASE alter your animal. 2. If your pet is lost or you find a pet CALL YOUR LOCAL ANIMAL CONTROL OFFICER! Every tax paying town in the state of New Jersey has an animal control officer. Even if they are contracted out from another town YOU STILL HAVE ONE! Try calling the NON EMERGENCY police number of your town and they should be able to give you the number. 3. Yorkies, Chihuahuas, Lahsas and other toy breeds. If the dog is missing odds are its been stolen. These dogs are VERY expensive and in areas such as Newark, New Brunswick, Paterson, Jersey City and other urban areas these are nothing but walking dollar signs to people. Treat your toy breed as if its a walking $500 bill. Thats what others see it as. PITBULLS. If you find a pitbull there is a 99% chance it was dumped. These are disposable animals for your average wannabe thug. Unaltered, not microchipped, no tags and just running loose. Its sad really. 4. Cats. If you see a cat outside and it runs from you odds are its feral....if itll come up to you but wont let you touch it odds are its feral. Its a WILD CAT BORN IN THE WILD. Its NOT lost, it was just born outside and cares nothing for humans, but will come close if food is present. The instinct to eat is just as strong as fear. Cats do get dumped, but the kitty roaming your neighborhood was probably born there and you just never saw it until recently. Finally. Animal control misnomers. We dont pick up dead deer, the state does that. We dont pick up road kill unless its a cat or a dog. We sure as hell dont pickup dead wildlife off your lawn. If your dog never leaves the yard it doesnt have to have a license....false, enjoy your summons. Please just use common sense and most of all boycott stores like a ShakeAPaw and other puppy stores. Just remember every time a puppy mill dog is purchased a shelter dog gets put to sleep! SPAY AND NEUTER!!!!!!!!!!! (Low cost options are ALWAYS available)
Posted on: Sat, 23 Nov 2013 04:01:54 +0000