Dogs, cats, bears, birds and fish are better than you...

Dear Assholes that neglect and abuse non-human animals,

One day I am going to hunt you down and inflict all kinds of pain in places you'd never dream of. I will not hesitate to use any and all methods of torture with any dirty tools at my disposal. You deserve nothing better you depraved pieces of shit. When you think I am finished, I will let your wounds fester and ooze for a while before I pour salt into every one of them. I will take great pleasure in listening to you beg for mercy and forgiveness. Alas, nobody but me will hear you and your pathetic cries for help will go unnoticed, falling only on my indifferent ears. When I think you need some fresh air, you will have a collar that is too short digging into your neck, no fingernails and a rusty chain attached to a pole in an alley exactly two feet away from fresh water and food. I will have taken a souvenir or two to mount on my wall above the fireplace, every hair on your body pulled out and made into nice fuzzy slippers for me to wear around the house and maybe a few teeth for some jewellery. I suppose I could cut off a hand for an ashtray but I don't smoke so you are lucky on that front. Before I let you go, I will go to your home and completely destroy the environment you live in making it impossible to reside there. You will be forced into another neighbourhood where people aren't sympathetic to your plight and shoot intruders on sight, especially ones with visible deformities that you will surely have. Attached to you, embedded in your skin where everybody can see, will be the words: "I'm a worthless, animal abuser." When you are finally released, I will be sure to dump you into a garbage can like an unwanted piece of trash. Maybe somebody will find you and take pity on you, maybe not.

Sincerely,
OQA

Alright, as you can guess, I love non-human animals more than the human variety and stories like these sicken me to the very core. What gives us the right to do these things? Some believe we are the superior species. Really? What is so damn superior about us? As far as I am concerned, we have abused our "power" and are completely destroying everything in our path, including each other.

I have a dog and two kitties. All are "rescues". Sophie, my beautiful one eyed pirate dog was neglected so much she was found with a horrible infection in one eye from an injury that her human didn't bother to treat. When she was brought in to the shelter, she had to have surgery to remove her eye. When I first laid eyes on her, the stitches were still there looking like very long, unkempt eyelashes. I fell in love immediately. They brought her out for me to walk and there was an instant connection. We rolled around on the grass, she walked me more than I walked her and covered my face in slobbery kisses. I filled out the paperwork right away and walked on pins and needles until I found out she was mine to keep. A few months later, I was at the shelter speaking to the volunteers and they told me a story. Apparently a woman came into the shelter looking to adopt a dog. She walked around, looking at the dogs and then asked if they had found her other dog. When asked for a description, she described Sophie, right down to the eye infection. When they told her that she had been found and adopted, the woman responded with, "Good, she was a pain, always running away, let somebody else have her." Needless to say, she did not get another dog from this shelter.

Sophie has her fair share of issues and as a responsible dog mom, I am doing my best to address those. It has cost me almost $10000.00 and many sleepless nights but I wouldn't trade the experience for anything. In fact, I would spend another $10000.00 and give up many more nights of sleep before I give up my doggie. Our bond is strong and I cannot imagine not having her there to lick my tears away when I am sad, jump on me when I am happy and keep me company on the lonely nights. She doesn't judge me when I am a mess, she is always happy to see me when I get home and the only things she asks for in return is food, belly rubs and walks, lots of walks. Who can say that about a human?

So PLEASE... write letters, donate money, donate time.. ANYTHING to stop the cruelty that humans insist on inflicting on defenceless non-human animals. For more information, check out your local SPCA, PETA or Humane Society. While some of their methods may seem extreme, they definitely get the point across. I am not asking you to become vegetarian but consider free-range eggs and meat. Instead of getting your next pet from a breeder or pet store, go to your local shelter or look online at petfinder. Please avoid Craigslist and other things like it as you have no idea what you are getting yourself into and humans lie. Stick with the reputable shelters.

Some helpful links:

BC SPCA - Quentin the psycho kitty resided with the SPCA
Vancouver Pound
Pet Finder
L.A.P.S.
Peta
C.A.R.E.S - Mr.Tibbs the cat came from here
Canadian Humane Society
Delta Community Shelter - This one is rather special to me as this is where my Sophie came from

Thank you....