Letters to the editor - Thursday (10-1-09)

Trapped pet is part of someone's family

I am responding to the Sept. 14 letter from Michael Jaap ("Roaming cats are health hazard for some").

When he cages and traps someone's pet, that causes pain. I find it funny that he witnessed a bird eat an earwig. I have six cats and I've seen them all at least once eat an earwig. The bird population around my house hasn't gone down (and I have a lot of bird crap to prove it). Birds carry diseases, as do opossums. Hello ... Ever heard of rabies?

I don't think you understand how a cat or a dog becomes part of a person's family, and it should be against the law for you to just trap them and cart them off to their deaths without even talking to your neighbors.

Maybe their owners didn't realize their pet got out of their home. Maybe they were searching for their pet. People need to stop being stupid and give some respect to one another.

I'd also like to ask Mr. Jaap if he ever went to visit the animal shelter beyond the front door. This is where a responsible person goes searching for their pet. My cat had a collar and a tag but was put in with sick and feral cats. I paid $26 to get him out and a $25 citation. My neighbor purposely baited a trap to get my cat into his yard. My cat died three days after I got him out. The disease he brought back to my home also killed three more of my cats.

Mr. Jaap, you need to grow up and be a better neighbor.

— Pat Stamper

Rockwell

Loving companions

We all know it takes all kinds. However, people who go out of their way to entrap an animal that is for all intents and purposes loved and cared for stoop below anything I could call a humane human being.

I guess some are prone to just not like animals. To me, it is the same as stealing. Those cats that were trapped were pets and companions; no animal deserves to be gassed to death.

I wonder how some problems would be handled if the tables were turned. The true blame would belong to those who do not spay/neuter and perhaps move and leave their pets behind. I pray for the day when folks will wake up and realize the many difficulties they create for animal lovers. Education is always the best policy, but it has not caught on yet that spaying/neutering is the answer.

Don't allow more animals to be treated inhumanely. Get in touch with your local humane society for options. There are a couple of places that charge reasonable rates.

If your dog or cat is not treated as a precious addition to your family, then you don't deserve to have one. Keep in mind who created all the creatures of ths Earth and how he would look upon someone who would deliberately trap a harmless animal so that it could be put to death.

— Terie Brown

Salisbury