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Your letters: Pet shelter plan isn't good enough
Letters to the Editor
Published August 2, 2007
The school system has been tasked to provide a pet shelter during a hurricane. However, the owners are not allowed to be with their pets. Some stranger(s) will be in charge! No way would I task a stranger to care for my frightened pets!
Remember those trusting people in New Orleans who left their dogs (two shelters were involved) only to return later to find all these dogs had been shot. These people had left food, water, their names and phone numbers, all in good faith that their pets would be cared for and safe.
One hundred dogs and 200 cats are the limits for this one and only pet-friendly shelter being considered. By the time a family with their pets and required paraphernalia drive from Zephyrhills to this proposed shelter, it would undoubtedly be closed and filled to the limit. They would have to turn around and go home. All this during a hurricane when roads become jammed, weather prohibits good visibility and tempers are flaring. Will the police be in a position to handle the results?
Pasco is merely blowing smoke (again) to pacify pet owners into thinking they are doing the job mandated by the federal government. Pasco wants this less than adequate shelter because it wants FEMA funds. As it stands now, FEMA will withhold funds if a county does not provide the government-mandated shelters.
No options are given on the Pasco County Emergency Web site for pet-friendly shelters other than reserving a hotel in Tampa or hoping to find a vet in the area who has room. If mandatory evacuation is required, who on a vet's staff would stay behind to care for the animals?
Adrianne Ayres, Zephyrhills
Stop feeding strays? No way
If you feed strays they will come back, but would you rather see them get hit by a car or die of starvation? That's why we should continue feeding strays. I do and nothing will stop me.
The other night I found a husky wandering the neighborhood and I got it a leash from my dog and took it around the neighborhood and found its owner. My grandmother fed the ducks in our old neighborhood and yes, there were droppings everywhere, but nothing a hose and soap couldn't clean.
If you love animals you should keep feeding them.
James Vogelpohl, Hudson
Re: "Teen faces charges of domestic assault," July 20 story; and "Violent teenager should be killed ," July 23 letter
Mentally ill need help, not harm
The referenced letter is just a prime example of how people with mental problems are so misunderstood. They need help not condemnation nor euthanasia.
Anyone of us could have a head injury and become unstable and need assistance. We are supposed to be living in a civilized society, but we seem to be sinking into the muck of prejudice and ignorance.
Karen Sue Miyashiro, Hudson
[Last modified August 1, 2007, 22:03:45]
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