September 21, 2012
Friday

Mr. Jarvi - you missed the entire meaning of my comment. "Once again someone is looking for a "mate" solely for the purpose of breeding. We certainly do not need anymore dogs on this island." I was only commenting on the deliberate local breeding of dogs. I continuously see ads where people are wanting to breed dogs, sometimes just mutts. This needs to stop. If a person living here obtains a dog (or other animal) from outside the area as a family pet with no intention of breeding, particularly a rescue animal, that is great. However, as a community we need to stop breeding. Since we live on an island with no bridge off, transporting unwanted dogs to new homes or rescues is both expensive and physically difficult. We do not yet have a no-kill animal control facility and more animals are brought into the facility than can be placed locally. As a community we certainly do not need to deliberately add to the problem by locally breeding.

Recently a local resident was discovered running a very depraved backyard breeding operation. These animals then became the community's responsibility (Animal Protection) and as a community we have borne the costs associated with their care.

For the record, I have four dogs and they are all altered (spayed or neutered) including two pure bred male Chow Chows. All were abandoned with or near me while I was living in Washington state with my elderly father-in-law for 22 months a number of years ago. These dogs are just a fraction of the dogs that were abandoned near me, with the rest going to rescues.

Margaret Cloud
Ketchikan, AK

Representations of fact and opinions in letters are solely those of the author.
The opinions of the author do not represent the opinions of Sitnews.