David Joseph Gosselin
Natalie Neysa Alund has a horrific story over at the Tennessean about David Joseph Gosselin, who was running the self-described no-kill shelter, Happy Endings Animal Rescue, where dogs were slowly being neglected to death.
Officials say the dogs — including Chow, Pit Bull, Shepherd mixes and other medium to large breed dogs — were living in feces and filth inside an overcrowded house and outdoor kennels. One room alone held 22 dogs, with feces covering the floor. The dogs were suffering from medical issues including emaciation, dental disease and severe hair loss. Some were not spayed or neutered and had no access to food or water.
I know I harp on this regularly, but I harp on it because it seems like a lot of y’all don’t realize this. When you’re tired of a pet, you can’t just shove it out of your car and assume that whatever happens next is going to be fine for your pet. The animals you leave on the side of the road wait at the side of the road for you to come back for them and then they get hit by cars.
The weird stranger who, for some reason, wants your full-grown obnoxious dog isn’t some angel of mercy. He or she probably has bad designs. When you decide to get a pet, you’re taking responsibility for that animal and you have an obligation to provide it with shelter, food, water, and proper medical care for the rest of its life. If you can’t do that, you have a moral obligation to make sure that your pet is put in a good situation or that it is given an okay death.
Don’t get me wrong. It’s a waste, a tremendous waste of so many good animals when we put down unwanted animals. It makes me sick to think about it. But a quick death is not the worst thing that can happen to an animal. The people who gave Gosselin their dogs rather than turn them over to Metro Animal Control did their dogs no favors. They put their dogs in a torture chamber.
Please, folks, do some basic research on the places you dump your unwanted pets.
