Abandoned

If you have a dog or a cat you don't want any longer, it's a shame to put him down.  Wouldn't it be much better to take him out in the country and leave him where he can hunt on his own?

Yeah, sure!

I don't know where that harebrained idea ever began, but I do know too many people believe it.  We learned dogs and cats can't really live on their own out in the country when we bought a farm on the Ohio River about 50 miles downriver from Cincinnati, Ohio.  Almost before our signatures were dry on the real estate documents, we started to see abandoned dogs—nearly a parade of them—following the road in front of our farmhouse.

Annie, a beautiful young beagle was the first to find us as we worked on remodeling the old farmhouse.  She came up out of the riverbank and stayed near us as we worked.  We had little for her to eat, but we gave her what we had.  She was obviously hungry.  That day, she looked resigned as we got into our Jeep and drove off to our house in the city.  Four days later was the Labor Day holiday, and we were back at work on the old house.  This time we brought food along in case she was still around.  Before we'd gotten our tools out of the Jeep, Annie showed up and wouldn't leave our sides.

This time we gave her all she wanted to eat, and she lay peacefully on the front porch as I worked just inside the front door.  Of course she didn't have a name then.  So I came up with "Annie" from a story I read in 7th grade about another beagle titled, The Voice of Bugle Ann.  The afternoon progressed, and we came to the time to pack up our tools and go home.  Annie wasn't going to let us get away again, so when we got to the car, we saw   she had jumped into the Jeep over a doorsill about two feet above the ground.  (She was never again able to make that jump into the Jeep.)  Annie went home with us to our house in the city and became a member of the family.  She stayed with us until she died many years later at age 17.

Annie may not have been abandoned in the strict sense.  She may have fallen out of a farmer's truck, but she was all alone, trying to find something to eat and completely friendless—a terrifying situation.  Our family grew as Roscoe a terrier, Boy a German shepherd, Yo-yo a fox hound, and Spotty a bird dog came along and chose to stay.  We didn't see many of the other dogs that passed by, but some found our vegetable garden, where they chewed on pumpkins and squash to get something edible in their stomachs—leaving clear evidence of just how hungry they were.

Before the farm, I didn't think I wanted any more pets, but we had sixteen several years later when we moved to Florida.  I hate to think of what would have happened to those beautiful animals if we hadn't taken them in.  Surely some were purposely abandoned, perhaps all of them. Abandonment has to be the ultimate betrayal.

The first dog I saw in Cuba was almost certainly abandoned.  Christina, my traveling companion from HSUS and I waited near the area more than an hour for the lady who was supposed to meet us.  We were in a crowded area outside the Customs and Immigration areas where people found cabs or met their rides.  A thin little Chihuahua sort of dog came staggering along in the street right next to the curb.  He seemed to be very weak, and I don't think he had the strength to climb the curb to the safety of the waiting area where we sat watching him.  I tried to buy something for him to eat at a snack stand, but there were too many people around it and only one harried attendant, whose attention I could not summon.  By the time I got back to where we sat, the little dog had moved on out of view.

Later, talking with Nora, I mentioned the episode, and she told me it's a common sight at the airport.  If a family gets permission to leave Cuba for the US, they usually won't be coming back.  Often they can't find anyone to take their dog, so they go to the airport with their dog, and they say their goodbyes, and leave the dog outside as they go in to check their bags.  Dogs like this sometimes stay around the airport for a few weeks until they die or—in rare instances— someone takes them home.

Dogs have evolved to be symbiotic with mankind.  For thousands of years they have given us security, love, companionship, and help in hunting for food.  They deserve a secure place in our families, not abandonment.

Les Inglis