Human ignorance

5 September

Up early this morning with Jan has she gets ready to drive to Selly Oak for her latest appointment. As I said before, the traffic is going to be the real concern, but as she is heading out in a few minutes (8.05ish), she should be OK. Later this morning I will head out into town for a few hours, just a for a ride out just to get out for a bit mainly. The light is dull and flat though right now but hopefully it will brighten up later in the day.

‘Babies in the womb are the perfect parasite.’ So said a GP to us while Jan was carrying Tom. The same subject came up in one of the animal rescue shows we watch. At least our ladies normally carry one baby, dogs on the hand can have huge litters. Abused bitchs are in an entirely different though. So many of them are left to fend for themselves by neglectful owners and can rapidly become emaciated through lack of food and the parasitic nature of her pups.

But why do owners of any animal do this sort of thing? It’s not just dogs though is it? I’m not a horse lover but I am disgusted by the way so many horses are treated, even here in the UK. We see horses starved to death in some case, and in others, recued before they get into that state. Hoof care is also vital these days, and yet I can’t help but wonder how wild horses manage without hoof care. Or is it that their wild lifestyle does the care naturally. Wild horses also to forage for food, whereas once they are domesticated they become dependent of us humans for all their needs. And that is where so many fail them.

There are many reasons for this really; lack of money, lack interest, lack of time, lack of space … but top of the list is lack of knowledge and understanding. When all is said and done though, it all comes down to that last reason. These animals a bought on the spur of the moment with little thought given to why they want it, let alone how to care for it. They become victims of today’s throw-away society, except these are not inanimate plastic toys that can be smashed and binned afterwards. Therefore, the result is that animals across the world are neglected and die or the lucky ones are rescued by volunteer organisations like the RSPCA, or The Dogs Trust.

Pet shops need to take a greater role here too. One pet we went into had a small money in a cage at the end of the shop. The cage had a price tag on it of several hundred £s, with a note beside it saying, ‘including monkey’. As we watched the monkey was grasping the front bars of the cage and was urinating on anyone who walked in front of the cage. But why was shop owner trying to see a monkey? Monkeys do not make good pets, actually, the make very poor pets. So often the animals are returned to the shop because the buyer quickly finds out that they can’t acre for it. The shop owner isn’t worried; he’s got his money in the bank.

Pet shops need to stop selling so many exotic pets. We have two pet shops here in Dorktown, Martins Pet Shop on Queens Road, and the much larger Pets At Home on Newtown Road. Both shops are careful in what they cell. Neither sell cats or dogs, sticking mainly to gerbils and such like. Pet At Home have sold chipmunks though, so I hope that is the most exotic animal I’ve seen in there, although it has been some time since I was in there.

Our most exotic pets is today’s photo …

Maxi the budgie

Today’s funny …

What is 90 years old and wears two thick coats?
A little cold lady.