Staff at the Langley Animal Protection Society Patti Dale Animal Shelter dubbed her Everest.
Everest’s was one of many similar stories played out time and again, everywhere.
Too young to be on her own, the baby kitten was one of 10 sealed into a cardboard box and dropped beside a dumpster at a Langley church.
The intent is obvious – the kittens were supposed to die. It’s summer, so being sealed in a box meant suffocation and death by heat. Cruelty, plain and simple.
And absolutely unnecessary.
Come up with any excuse, and the local animal welfare agencies have an answer.
‘I didn’t want to put it in a shelter where it would be killed.’
Most shelters in B.C. are no-kill.
‘Animals should be able to reproduce.’
How’d that work out for you, having to round up those cuddly little mewing fluff balls and stuff ’em in a box?
‘I can’t afford to take them to a shelter.’
There is no cost or obligation to pay. The focus is on helping the animals, so these groups are constantly fundraising to cover their costs or obtaining contracts to help with costs. The
Langley Animal Protection Society, for example, is contracted to provide animal protection services for both Langley City and Langley Township.
Just within Langley there is also CARES cat shelter which looks after unwanted cats, Small Animal Rescue (for animals like rabbits and guinea pigs), TLC cat adoptions, which has been going for several years, and even the Urban Safari Rescue Society, a Cloverdale-based group that takes in unwanted exotic animals.
And while the BC SPCA doesn’t have a Langley shelter, it is tasked with investigating animal crimes in Langley.
Be honest – it’s more effort to try to kill unwanted pets or get rid of them than to contact an animal welfare organization which will often pick them up. And doing such cruel things really wrecks your karma.
There are no excuses for not getting help for unwanted animals.
– H.C.