I spent many hours today, trying my best to help someone from another state who had an issue with their neutered dogs being suddenly captured by the authorities. They had not expected the authorities to come to their colony as they had never done so in the past. But a few days ago, they had angered another fellow animal-activist through an argument on social media, calling him out for his alleged wrongdoings. This made that activist very angry. And today, suddenly and unexpectedly, their dogs were suddenly captured. As we all know, the authorities only act upon complaints.
Now, nobody likes to be scolded and put down in public for any reason, even if they had done something wrong. That’s just human nature, isn’t it? In dealing with humans, we really have to, first and foremost, consider the safety of those who are vulnerable, defenseless and dependent on us. We know only too well that it is an innate human nature to take revenge and the worst of humans will not take revenge on us, but they will do it on those who are defenseless and under our care because that will definitely hurt us more. And the defenseless ones are “easier” to harm and bully. This is what cowards do, and sadly, many humans have such traits.
Humans can be relentlessly evil. That’s a fact of life and I’m not going to sugarcoat it. Why do evil people kidnap young children as a way to take revenge on the parents? Because it hurts the parents much, much more. And young children are easier to harm than adults. Similarly, these evil people will do it to our animals too, because they know we love our animals as our children.
So, please, please, please. Do NOT make other humans angry if you have defenseless dependents (read: animals under your care). No matter how right you think you are, it’s not worth making these evil humans angry. In the first place, what do we get by calling out on another person’s mistakes in public? Do we think that person is going to admit her mistake, say sorry and change? Fat chance that would happen! Then, why do people call out other people’s mistakes in public? To shame them? To feel superior? If that is the case, then it’s time to reexamine one’s ego.
Is being RIGHT so important that we do not care what the consequences of our altercation is? Is there real or lasting satisfaction in telling someone off? Is it worth making that person angry just to “hit back” and enjoy those few minutes of glorious “victory”? Last but not least, is it worth putting your dependents at risk of that person’s anger and revenge?
Why not do something more useful that will not put our dependents at risk of being harmed? Why not mediate and find a peaceful solution where both parties can be reasonably placated? Most people have yin and yang in their psyche. Not everyone is completely evil.
So, coming back to this case, it happened in another state, so I could not help much except to advise that the first and most important thing to do is to get those poor captured dogs back from the pound. I managed to get the contact number of a friend of a friend who was willing to help locate those dogs in that town. So I gave the contact number to this person whose dogs had been captured.
I do not know the outcome of this case yet as I have not been updated, but I really, really hope they will prioritise getting all their dogs back. It doesn’t matter who is right or wrong, just get those poor dogs back first.
Since we are on this subject, it might also be useful for me to write here that the authorities have the law on their side and the law allows them to respond to complaints and capture free-roaming animals regardless of whether they are neutered or not. As hard as we have tried in the past, we failed to get the council by-laws amended. Free-roaming animals are still regarded as “nuisance” and can be captured. That is the law and we have no choice but to live with it and do our best to prevent our free-roaming animals from being captured. This is why neutering is so very important. It is through neutering that we stop the breeding and prevent the number of street animals from increasing. At the same time, we have to use our wisdom to safeguard our animals so that they will not be captured. To do this, stop the complaints and the capturing will not happen.
Stop the complaints – that is key. Placate, pacify, appease, plead, appeal, coax, beg even if you have to – whatever it takes, for the sake of our animals.
In view of this case, I have taken the liberty of writing up some tips on keeping our CNRM colony safe. I hope this helps.
Tips on preserving our CNRM colony and keeping our animals safe.
- Be friendly to your neighbours or other humans who frequent your colony and explain that neutered animals will not breed anymore and the number of street animals will not increase.
- Explain that you will take responsibility for the animals by feeding them, getting them vaccinated and taking them to the vet if they fall sick. If there are complaints, do your very best to settle the complaints in a friendly and amicable manner. Do not incur the wrath of other humans because some might react by calling the council and your neutered animals will be captured.
- As far as possible, for the safety of your animals, tolerate other humans, no matter how difficult they can be. Do this so that your animals will not be harmed.
- If you are confronted by the council and animal-catchers, do your very best to negotiate with them, find options to solve the complaints, do whatever it takes so that your animals will not be captured. Council by-laws, unfortunately, allow the council to catch free-roaming animals, but some animal-catchers can be reasonable and compassionate if you explain the situation to them and offer to solve the complaints or placate those who complain.
- Please remember to do everything in your power to safeguard your animals. Being kind is more important than being right.
