Freya's Rusty Bedsprings!

What is it with people who want to have the warm fuzzy feeling of being a good samaritan but not actually have the will to DO anything?

One of my jobs is to search for owners of lost pets, based on the Rabies ID number on the back of our ID tags... It's a pretty cool idea - as long as you keep up on the address and phone number, if your pet gets lost, you can have it returned to you in pretty short order.

Apparently, people don't always think to update their tag information for their pet, or they decide it would be a WONDERFUL idea to travel with their pet across country, and then they end up getting out...

These things happen, and I think it's rather stupid that you wouldn't update your information OR you'd let your pet roam free in a strange neighborhood, but they happen. Pets get out, life happens, and sometimes you don't remember to update your information...

But what gets me are those people who decide, once they've *found* the pet, that they want to call us and have US take it away - or have a working phone number of the owner. When we don't have it, or can't pick up the pet (we're in the Pac NW, folks - we ain't drivin' to Arkansas for a dog), they get upset that we refer them to local animal shelters for further assistance.

Now - why, for all the love of little green apples, would you feel that it's "too much trouble" to dial another number and wait for animal control to come out and pick up the pet? I mean, you've dialed 2 numbers, and now the third one is going to completely kill you? Come off it.

I kid you not - I got a call today from a guy who wanted to report that he found a dog, and the phone number we gave him was disconnected. I looked up the ID tag information, and found that the number was the ONLY phone number we had. I recommended that he call Animal Control and his response was (and I QUOTE): "Oh - well, that's too much trouble. I was just trying to be nice and catch the dog before it got hit by a car."

WTF?!

I would hope that (heavens forfend) my cat got out, people would hunt me down and find me - or at least turn her into animal control so that I could check there for her. If I were to find a pet, I would do the same.

I just don't get some people.

~M