Message over pets still ignored

So as the new year dawns and the leftover turkey goes into sandwiches for an unwelcome return to work, the Star and other papers report upon the same sorry tale that unfolds year in year out.

Dogs, bought by thoughtless halfwits (I'm sorry but that's the best description for them) in the run up to Christmas, are discarded to rehoming centres once the novelty wears off and the reality of looking after and training them sinks into the owners' thick skulls.

Dogs, and other animals no doubt, are cast off by our shallow consumer society as if they were an unwanted mobile phone or computer game, handed over to the re-homing centre without any hint of guilt or regret, often smothered by weak, fatuous excuses for the individual's inability to keep it.

Am I being harsh? Yes perhaps, but I make no apology for it. It is far too easy in our throw-away society to obtain goods and later dispose of them if necessary and rehoming animals shortly after acquiring them amounts to just that.

It's not as if there aren't enough pleas and reminders to encourage people to think carefully before getting a pet, but as always it seems that there are those who will simply ignore any advice given, think that it doesn't apply to them or arrogantly claim such advice is "nannying".

I hope all rehomed pets find a new home soon, one where the owners have actually put some thought into taking them in.

J M Davis

Leegomery