I love
animals. I always have, I always will. As you may know, I’m currently being
trained by two kittens, I have a tank full of fish which I saved from becoming a giant bouillabaisse, and I’ve managed not to
commit GBH on Horrible Horace, the Dog Next Door. No, I’ve gritted my teeth
(much like Horrible Horace did, but on that occasion he had a chunk of my leg
between the two halves of his doggy dentition) and let him be, even though he’s
probably the one animal I will never love.
I’ve
fostered animals, rescued animals, raised money for them, loved them, paid
their vet bills and generally conducted myself well in all matters animal
related. However, I’m
somewhat perplexed at the moment. Let me explain.
I flit and
flutter around the interweb on a regular basis, popping in on various forums, social networking sites
and blogs. However, I’ve noticed of late that, almost everywhere I go, there seems to
be little else to look at but a mass of adverts for rehoming, or, perhaps more
worrying, lost and stolen dogs and cats.
I don’t
have many “friends” on Facebook, but in the last week alone, between them they’ve
posted 15 photographs of injured or missing dogs and cats, from Land’s End to John
O’Groats , together with various updates on the 15 including the occasional
message of thanks when a pet is found. These latter, however, are quite rare.
So what’s
my problem with all this? Well, I
have a couple of problems with it, if I’m being honest.
Firstly, I’m
getting beyond “compassion fatigue”. And the nature of social networking means
that if someone loses a dog in Scotland, I’ll get to hear about it, even though
the chances of said dog turning up anywhere near me are about as slim as those
of me being elected to Parliament.
Secondly,
whilst I understand the power of social networking, I also think that this
power is being hugely diluted by the sheer volume of these messages, and
however heartless I may sound (and I’m not, really, I’m not) I don’t visit
Facebook to read a list of missing animals.
Having
vented my spleen, I have to say that my other problem is perhaps a bigger one.
I simply don’t understand why so many dogs and cats appear to be being stolen.
Who on earth is stealing them and for what reason? Maybe it’s best I don’t
know, as I suspect the real reasons may be too awful to contemplate. Has this
always been the case, or is the Facebook phenomenon highlighting an existing
problem which never seemed to be large-scale because such instances were never
brought together in one place? I’m sure a proportion of these animals have
become lost, rather than having been stolen, but that does not detract from the
(seemingly) many cases of people who saw someone actually steal their dog, and
where the question of theft is not in doubt.
I should
also say that it is a testament to the compassion of my friends on Facebook
that so many of them do take the trouble to spread the word about missing
animals. It’s me. I know it is.
Please post
your hate mail below…..
