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Yesterday one of our staff began her daily routine preparing the SPCA van for travel.  Little did she know her day was about to begin with a HARSH REALITY.

I will call this kitten Fluffy because I do not know its given name or sex.  Fluffy, a medium hair black kitten, was left by its owner just outside the gates of our campus in a pretty basket.  Fluffy escaped from the basket only to take refuge in the engine of one of our company vans.  As you have probably guessed by now Fluffy was clipped by the fan and its neck was broken instantly.  This is the only comfort I take from this tragedy; it was swift and hopefully painless for this sweet and innocent creature.  I wrapped Fluffy in a towel and said a prayer to St. Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of animals. 

But it was not so painless for our employee; she was devastated and felt totally responsible for this kittens death.  The HARSH REALITY is “you” are responsible for the life of any animal you choose to own.  There is a right way and a wrong way to give up your pet.  Be responsible for your own actions and do it the right way because not only do you hurt the animal you hurt people when they are involved in an unfortunate accident such as this.

For those of you who surrender your animals to shelters the right way, thank you.  I encourage you to help those who see no other way to relieve themselves of the burden of unwanted pets to do it right.  You may just save another life.

Wednesday night, January 27 ^th around 5:15 pm a white car with two occupants’ was parked outside our surrender entrance at the SPCA.  At this same time, while driving out of the parking lot, Patt saw movement by the surrender door and went to investigate.  Although they did leave their car the occupants’ did not make contact with an SPCA representative and chose instead to release a black, male cat on our property before leaving.

We were able to catch the cat and take him safely inside where he was treated to a private suite complete with food and water, and then named Binky.  He is a very loving male cat with big green eyes.

This type of ‘surrender’ happens more often than you would think and some times we are not as successful at catching them, in fact it may be weeks before we even know there is someone roaming the campus and by then they may be in trouble.    The fate of these pets, until someone rescues them, is to live their life on their own in an unfamiliar and unfriendly environment.  We don’t know the circumstance from which this pet came, we don’t know their name or if their owners are looking for them.  Have they been tested and vaccinated?  We have no history and this can be a disadvantage to the pet. 

If you need to surrender your pet because you can’t care for it or your landlord won’t allow it, please give your pet a second chance at life and do it the right way.  If you see an employee before or after hours on campus talk to us, we are not heartless, we will not judge and we won’t turn our back on you or your pet.  We will do our best to find them new homes. Every one of us who work at the SPCA care about the well being of a pet we don’t even know because we have devoted our lives to this cause.  We save lives…won’t you help us?

Pets are not disposable

Benji is an 8 year old  Shi Tzu with a dislocated disk.  Benji can walk but when he tires his legs give out and needed a wheelchair to get around.  Once again Ken Suarez of Fox 13 worked his magic by reaching out to animal lovers, getting the word out about the SPCA.

The Volunteers at the Hillsborough County Animal Services donated a wheelchair to us last week.  One day later Brenda called about Benji.  I am sure by now you know the ending of this story.  We could not have made it happen without the volunteers of HCAS.  They are Benji’s Guardian Angel!

Fox 13′s Ken Suarez reported on the progress of Lemondrop a couple of weeks ago talking about pets that need wheelchairs and how the pets surrendered to the SPCA in Lakeland were helped and found a forever home.

The day after the story aired a man named Jesse called asking for help for his baby Sandy.  Jesse saw the story on Fox 13 and hoped we could help.  At the time of Jesses call we did not have any resources or wheelchairs but that was about to change.  The very next call was Connie, she had a wheelchair for the exact breed of dog Jesse had.  Connie called Jesse, they met and the rest is history.  Jesse has a wheelchair for Sandy and Connie has a new friend.  Ken Suarez did another story on wheelchairs, this time it was about Connie, Jesse and Sandy.  Another happy ending!