Surrendering animals

[bellasmommy]

I'm sure many of you have heard of programs where people can surrender their firearms, no questions asked.

Do you think there should be a similar program for surrendering animals? Just drop the animal off, no questions asked, no charges pressed.

Comments

[bellasmommy]

See my above reply. It may be different in your area, but my area only accepts owner surrenders for a fee, and they take down information, and if abuse is suspected, it's investigated.

[amazonvera]

I think she may have been talking about Animal Control. Some of them charge a fee and investigate, though others do not. It's different from county to county.

[erica057]

Is this hypothetical situation assuming that there's sufficient shelter space/foster homes and all animals can be cared for? I'm just seeing a logistical issue here.

Also people dump dogs at the dog park all the time. I ended up fostering one a while back.

[themachinestops]

No. You can already do this, one of our cats (now deceased) was left in a cardboard box outside the shelter. And I think it's important to keep a list of people who have given up animals. There are people who cycle through puppies and kittens and then give them up when they get too old, anonymous surrendering would just fuel that. I would be behind free surrendering, though (count me in with the people who didn't know it WASN'T free, since I've never given up an animal).

[giveitfullheart]

I don't think so. As it is now, there are people who will neglect or abuse their unwanted pets and sure something like that would give them an out. It also gives other people who are a bit more responsible an easy out. A bunch of acquaintances of mine have tried finding new homes for their pets for stupid reasons (oh, we're having a baby so gotta get rid of the dog...stuff like that) and I think if there was something where they could just drop the pet off, no questions they wouldn't even make an effort to find a new home.

[moustachios]

Yes. Lots of people are assholes about abandoning their pets, but not enough of an asshole to do it shamelessly. If the options are (1) anonymously leave the animal at the shelter, or (2) anonymously leave the animal on the side of the highway/in a box/in a pond/at the dump... I want option 1 to be available.

The local SPCA asks questions and gets an animal's history at all daytime drop-offs, but they also have some cages in their (heated, sheltered) front porch so people can come by after hours and leave animals anonymously. Some people are *still* too stupid to leave their animals in there, and just dump them in the parking lot and run, or abandon them in the woods or at the dump. But there would be hundreds more of those cases if it weren't for the anonymous drop-off option.