Responsibility
1. The obligation to carry forward an assigned task to a successful conclusion. With responsibility goes authority to direct and take the necessary action to ensure success.
2. The obligation for the proper custody, care, and safekeeping of property or funds entrusted to the possession or supervision of an individual. See also accountability.
I received an email yesterday night. It went along the following lines:
“If you are preaching Animal Love you need to be soft, and nice, and make sure everyone likes you, that way people will love animals more”.
Or something stupid like that…
Ok, let me make myself clear today. What I preach in this blog is NOT ABOUT ANIMAL LOVE, WHAT I PREACH IS ABOUT RESPONSIBILITY.
I ask… no.. I demand of all of you to learn the meaning of responsibility.
Responsibility means to honor your promise to care for an animal for life instead of dumping him by the side of the road at the slightest problem.
Responsibility (for a foster home) means to take care of the animal until he/she is rehomed.
Responsibility means neutering your pets instead of breeding and dumping the puppies on someone else. If you breed your animal you may do it out of “misguided love” but you are committing the ultimate act of irresponsibility. There are not enough good homes for new born animals, and even if you find one you are condemning an animal at a shelter to a life of horror.
Responsibility is about ensuring the safety of your animal, at all times.
Responsibility means to provide generic xanax vs correct veterinary and nutritional care for your animals. Feeding commercial food is a supreme act of irresponsibility. Times have changed. We know better.
Responsibility means to educate yourself in animal issues much in the same way you educate yourself in order to bring up your own children.
Responsibility means to educate those around you about… Responsibility!
I do not personally care the slightest bit about you loving animals or not. I don’t really care either about whether you love all animals or your animal only (most people only seem to care for their own animal and happily turn a blind eye if they see an animal in need), but what I do care is about the effects of widespread irresponsibility on the lives of the animals unfortunate enough to live in our cities. I look at the state of shelters worldwide… Shelter, what a misleading word… what I see in Turkey is not shelters or rehabilitation centers as they call them, what I see here are concentration camps for dogs run by municipalities in cooperation with animal hoarders. What I see in other countries are killing stations run in most cases by “Animal Welfare Organizations” that have come to the conclusion that killing is a better option.
Responsibility is the key word here.. Animal love is a completely overrated concept, useless. I wish we all loved animals just a little bit less and in turn we became just a little bit more responsible.
Viktor Larkhill
Exactly! I know I am blown away everytime I hear that America is a nation of dog or animal lovers. Let’s see, Cabela hosts ‘derbies’ where people vie to get the most points by killing wolves – 3 points per wolf and over 5 million animals are euthanized in shelters every year and most people think PETA is obnoxious and should just ‘go away’.
Yea, if this is a nation of animal lovers I can only imagine what it would be like if we hated them.
Irresponsible and haphazard people don’t require someone being ‘nice’ to them; quite the opposite…they need to be told that they are lazy and irresponsible, and that others are angered by their shortcomings! I know I sure the hell am.
I think that what you and many of us are doing is also raising awareness. Many people are ignorant of what is going on concerning stray animals in Turkey. The more we open their eyes, the more they will be able to understand us. I used to be put down and insulted whenever I fed a street dog, but now more and more, I hear people thanking me and telling me what a nice thing I am doing.
Yes, bravo for calling it as it is at shelters. I’m tired of people using euphemisms like being “put down” or to “sleep” instead of killing. This isn’t a fairytale. In the United States we have a holocaust of over 5 million cats and dogs killed every year.
It’s a shame to see such an irresponsible article. Many points are entirely valid but when ridiculous, ignorant and misguided ideas like….
” If you breed your animal you may do it out of “misguided love” but you are committing the ultimate act of irresponsibility. There are not enough good homes for new born animals, and even if you find one you are condemning an animal at a shelter to a life of horror.”
and
“Feeding commercial food is a supreme act of irresponsibility.”
It waters down that other valid points. I sure hope the author has adopted any children and not brought innocent victims in to this world while other children languish in orphanages and foster care.
Obviously this person comes from a misguided animal rights point of view and is responsible for the suffering in puppy mills and factory farms because he is unwilling to put aside politics and his radical agenda for the sake of animals. very sad.
What a GREAT ARTICLE Viktor.!! Everyone needs to read it. It’s too bad everyone doesn’t know the meaning of responsibility, not only for the animals but also for their children…
Yes it is infuriating to hear the fluffy news broadcasters saying what a “nation of Animal Lovers we are”. They, obviously, haven’t looked in an animal facility, on any given day, and counted the hundreds/thousands of cast-out companion animals who “wait” in vain for their cruel former owners to rescue them – Instead we allow mass extermination of innocent, homeless dogs and cats. Betrayed by our “nation of Animal Lovers.” Heartbreaking and unforgivable.
Hi, First time here. I would like some clarification on commercial dog food being irresponsible. Do you mean all commercial products (wet and dry)???? and why? I have always used high quality dry as a base or foundation and supplemented for both my cats and dogs. As far as a stray, I will feed whomever needs food and shelter if they will accept…..Thanks…
Responsibility applies to the general public, and to shelters as well. Shelters need to be responsible. They need to be lifesaving, safe havens for animals, not death camps. They need to stop treating animals as if they are disposable. Berating the public for treating animals as if they are disposable (which there is no doubt a segment of the population does) is utterly hypocritical when shelters do the same thing–catch, kill, dispose of, catch, kill, dispose of–ad nauseum. Shelters have a moral imperative to implement the No Kill Equation immediately (see http://www.nokill.org). It works.
tres bon article ,la responsabilitée envers tout etres vivants n est pas aquise par la plupart des gens ,tres bon de le rappeller a tous merci victor
Responsibility is also taking back a dog (or cat) if we recognize that an adoption is not gonna work. So did we .. with all consequences, even if this means having more dogs at home, than expected. You CAN leant o deal with this situations. What we need is people who care and take some responsibility.
Fantastic Viktor.I fully agree,loving an animal alone does not make you a good pet owner.It is a job,one that must be taken seriously.No matter how much you claim to “love” your pet if you are not being responsible for his needs then you are failing miserably. Real love is being responsible and putting that responsibility first.Maybe whoever sent that email would appreciate you more if the next time you had to rescue an abused stray you did it with a smile???Would that make you nicer and force people to “love” animals more??To treat them better?kinder?I think not.Keep doing things your way Viktor,it is working.
Julie and Layla, the killings of dogs in shelters pass 10 million, I assure you.
5 million is based on the data given by the shelters that are willing to supply data. There are thousands of shelters that does not supply any data. So this fact makes this statistic invalid. Only in the California state as far as I know, more than 1 million animals that are not adopted are being euthanized each year.
Outstanding article. And think of the other impacts of these irresponsible people, namely that 4.7 million people are bitten by dogs each year and millions more can’t relax in their own homes because of all the barking being forced into their own homes.
All because these dogs are being ignored and neglected.
Hi… Im curious… where did you get those statistics on dog biting?
let me know please.. seems very high to me.
Is that only in the US? in the world? in Turkey?
I am from the U.S. and am disgusted with the abuse of Animals here in my Country as well as all over the World. So disgusted in fact that I have opened my home to foster which I am currently doing. I willingly and graciously take on this responsibility for my fosters as well as for my 3 adopted dogs and 3 adopted cats. But, I do this also because I Love Them and that I believe does play a big role in this.I treat my Fosters as they are one of my own. I would have to be cold hearted not to fall in love with them. I have one Foster that is some work as she came from an abusive home. It warms my heart to see the changes in her because of the Love I show her.
So In My Opinion, of course Animals are about Responsibility and Love..
Thank you,,