At the Greater Androscoggin Humane Society we never turn away an animal in need.
An incident like the “recycled puppies” in Rumford brings the issues of animal abuse and neglect to the forefront of a community’s collective mind. We, at the Greater Androscoggin Humane Society, are always sickened when we learn about such stories. I’m sure that Ms. Marsha McKenna does a fine job at her shelter and that she is diligent in her placement practices.
However, we believe the article “Options weighed in puppy case” in the April 29 paper presents some bad advice.
McKenna was quoted as saying “people all over southern Maine have been looking for puppies. It doesn’t cost a thing to put an ad in Uncle Henry’s for puppies.”
Unfortunately, there are many unscrupulous people who respond to these ads who don’t have the animals’ best interest in mind; some pets even end up being sold to laboratories.
To a person whose dog just had puppies (or cat who had kittens) often the motivating force is to get rid of the puppies as quickly as possible to save money or time or aggravation. Even the well-meaning owners generally have no training that would enable them to discern a “good home” from a bad one.
At the Greater Androscoggin Humane Society we never turn away an animal in need. When someone brings in a litter we generally ask for a donation to help offset the cost of supporting those young ones until they’re old enough for adoption. However, if the owner cannot afford to pay, we gladly accept the litter anyway.
In addition, we have a program through which we provide the owner a $75 certificate for a mother dog and $60 for a mother cat that will be used to spay that animal, thus preventing future litters.
McKenna is certainly correct to say that spaying and neutering is the only way we will ever solve the terrible problem of pet overpopulation. For this reason, every animal that is adopted through the Humane Society, even puppies and kittens as young as eight weeks old, is spayed or neutered before leaving for their new home, the cost of which is included in the adoption fee.
At the Humane Society we go to enormous lengths to determine whether someone making application to adopt will provide a good home for the animal. Everyone is required to provide great detail about the home situation where the animal will live. We do not adopt dogs that will be tied out 24/7 or used as guard dogs.
We want to know who will be the primary caregiver and if there are other animals living in the household, we check with their veterinarian to be sure proper health care is being provided.
If the potential adopter is renting their home, we contact the landlord to be sure they have permission to have an animal.
We do our absolute best to ensure a safe and happy future for all our animals.
We believe that animal abuse, just as any other type of abuse, should be severely punished and, just as McKenna and state humane agent Bentley Rathbun, we hope the perpetrator of this crime receives the maximum sentence.
Steven Dostie is director of the Greater Androscoggin Humane Society in Auburn.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
