The horrors of foreclosure — please don’t make pets suffer too
It's a terrible time when many, many people are losing their homes to foreclosure. I cannot imagine the discouragement and frustration of losing our home because we were unable to pay the mortgage.
So can you imagine the horror of being a dog or cat who suddenly finds itself abandoned because its family lost their home and simply abandoned it??
A few months ago some people living in the country near out city did exactly that. They trashed the house, drove away, and left more than 20 cats to fend for themselves. Happily, a neighbor living a couple of miles away discovered the situation and at his own expense purchased bags of cat food, took the food and some water dishes to the house, and fed and cared for the cats for several weeks. After several weeks of this, with regular updates on the local TV news, the county and city finally worked a way around the various bureaucracies involved to rescue the cats.
But more horrifying are the endings where those who lose their homes simply walk away from their pets, leaving them to starve or die at the hands of mean people, harsh weather, or predatory animals. It's a horrible, horrible tale nationwide.
I urge you to be alert in your town, city, or countryside -- do you see more stray cats or dogs than usual? Do you know people or areas of your community hit hard by foreclosures? If you do and if you possibly can, please think of the pets who may suffer from neglect or abandonment and do what you are able to help them.
It's terrible when a family faces foreclosure. It only compounds the awfulness of the situation if they visit their hardship on helpless animals.
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