I was searching the internet for interesting Hurricane Florence animal rescue information when a statement caught my eye from the Opslens.com website.
“The reality of depravity when humans are confronted with anomalies for which they had adequate prep-time yet still made grotesque decisions. Disregarding a bicycle is perfectly understood; valuating a few heartbeats as dispensable is unfathomable.”
The picture below shows the released dogs running away from their prison:
This article written by my friend Penny Eims tells of a family in Myrtle Beach who left their two dogs in a chain link fence and another in a trailer without food or water. Should this be considered abandonment and punishable by law? The dogs were remanded into police custody pending an investigation.
Below is a video of the six dogs being rescued by a hero volunteer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmvdsxntpuY
On one hand, many rescues set up for people will only accept service dogs and nothing else. On the other, there were Good Samaritans announcing days in advance that they were out of the Hurricane Florence danger zone and had room in their home for a family, including pets.
Pet owners should get it into their heads that if they have to evacuate, their pets have to evacuate as well. This doesn’t mean dumping them at a rest stop, a convenience store or trying to pass them off to an animal rescue that is already overwhelmed with the animals in their care (yes, that DID happen in Myrtle Beach).
While I personally consider these actions as animal cruelty, imagine the time it will take law enforcement to investigate each claim. Does anyone have a number as to how many were abandoned as people escaped Hurricane Florence?
What do the readers think? While this is a “dog” article, it pertains to any animals left to drown or starve to death. Please sound off in the comments.
Given ample warning there should be no excuse. Neglect,abandonment are abuse. I have to add what factory farms do is criminal and should be prosecuted. They leave the animals to die and then replace them with the insurance money. Their greed should not be rewarded. Load them onto the trucks and get them to higher ground.
Yes, the ample warning issue means no one should use time as an excuse. However, it seems some people have used the hurricane as an excuse to abandon companion animals.
The reference to the Myrtle Beach dog abandonment referred to in the article has to be animal cruelty/animal abuse under the law but it will not be punished. In natural disasters such as this animal cruelty of this type goes unnoticed and unpunished. It’s about lack of enforcement.
There is a breakdown in the natural order of things and law enforcement when natural disasters occur. There’s no excuse for this sort of animal abuse because there is plenty of time to take proper steps to protect the welfare of companion animals.