Violence

My home is in a very rural area in the US with no spay/neuter laws or animal control. It is also down a road that is the local traditional dumping ground for unwanted animals. We have our dogs, cats, and poultry here in a fenced area. Generally, strays can be chased off by shooting roman candles in their general direction. However, some are persistant. I’m looking for a workable alternative to feeding stubburn strays a cheeseburger before shooting the stray in the back of the head.

I cannot start fostering dogs for the same reason I cannot buy legos. It would get out of control. Also, I’d rather not burdon someone else with taking these dogs away to cage them for a few weeks before killing them.

This sucks.

  • Jay@lemmy.ca
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    12
    ·
    edit-2
    1 year ago

    I get how you feel. There are 7 stray kittens behind my house right now and I can’t really take them in, but I feel super bad that they don’t have a home. I’ve been saving up some money to at least get the females fixed but money’s a bit tight. They are so damned cute (and friendly) it bothers me, but there’s just so many cats around here. Winter is coming too and where I live it commonly gets below -35c (-31f) so they kind of have a bleak future ahead of them.

    • SkyezOpen@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      10
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      If you put out a sideways cardboard box or something sturdier with towels in it that will help them immensely.

      • Jay@lemmy.ca
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        5
        ·
        1 year ago

        I actually have that outside right now… a box wrapped with some insulated tarp and a doorway cut into it, but that won’t do much when winter hits us full force and the snow piles up.

        I’m thinking about making a closed off area in my shed with a heat pad to help. I’ve been letting them into my house by blocking off the kitchen so they can’t wander around too much but I can’t leave them there unattended. If I didn’t already have 6 formerly stray cats I could “adopt” them, but 13 cats in this little house would drive us all crazy lol! (never mind the fact I’d have to dedicate an entire room for the litter boxes.)

        They’re still fairly small, so I have a bit of time to figure things out and hopefully find homes for them.