Shared Responsibility

We hate puppy mills.

We hate dogs spending their lives in cages. We hate seeing feet damaged from wire flooring and bodies that have never known enough room to run. We hate genetic defects being passed down because someone was breeding for money instead of breeding for the betterment of the breed.

We hate all of it.

I don't think we're going to find much disagreement there.

But that isn't where I am today.

Because while those things deserve attention, outrage and change, there is another crisis happening right in front of us that has become so enormous that I believe we are losing sight of it.

The everyday irresponsibility of pet ownership is drowning rescue.

And if we actually care about animals, we need to be willing to talk about it.

In the last week alone, one small town in Webster County has reached out to Animal Angels Network about more than 27 dogs needing help.

Twenty-seven.

Litters of puppies.

Adult dogs nobody wants anymore.

Dogs whose owners are moving.

Dogs whose owners can't afford them.

Dogs who "accidentally" got pregnant.

Dogs from another "oops" litter.

Dogs that were supposed to be given away to friends, until the friends didn't want them.

Dogs whose owners genuinely believed they would find homes for every puppy.

And, of course, dogs with stories that will absolutely break your heart.

Every single one of them has a story.

But eventually all of those stories end with the same question:

"Can a rescue take them?"

And that is where we have a problem.

Rescue was never supposed to become the backup plan for irresponsible pet ownership.

There is a conversation happening all over this country about breeders, puppy mills and commercial breeding facilities. Some of that conversation is desperately needed.

But I also think we have to keep our eye on the ball.

If a state issues someone a license to operate a business and that person is operating within the requirements of that license, then our argument ultimately needs to be with what the law allows, what the standards require and whether those standards are good enough.

Change the law.

Raise the standards.

Strengthen enforcement.

Demand better.

But while we are pointing fingers at the obvious villains, thousands upon thousands of animals are being created in backyards, living rooms, farms and neighborhoods by ordinary people who simply never spayed or neutered their pets.

And those animals count, too.

This isn't one enormous puppy mill producing every unwanted dog we see.

It is one litter here.

Seven puppies there.

A neighbor's dog getting loose.

Two intact family pets being allowed together.

Someone wanting their female dog to "have one litter."

Someone thinking the kids should experience puppies being born.

Someone believing their dog is beautiful and should reproduce.

Someone planning to sell the puppies and discovering that nobody is buying.

Someone giving puppies away for free because they're eight or ten weeks old and suddenly eating a lot of food.

And then another litter.

And another.

And another.

Individually, each situation can seem small.

Collectively, it is catastrophic.

And rescue is expected to absorb the consequences.

That is the part I desperately need people to understand.

When someone allows two dogs to reproduce without a responsible plan for those puppies for the rest of their lives, the responsibility doesn't disappear when the puppies turn eight weeks old.

It just gets transferred.

To a rescue.

To a shelter.

To animal control.

To a foster family.

To a veterinarian.

To a volunteer.

To the person who finds the dog dumped alongside a country road.

Or sometimes, tragically, to nobody at all.

People will tell us, "But I thought I could find them homes."

I believe you.

But hope is not a placement plan.

Facebook is not a placement plan.

Giving puppies to strangers in a parking lot is not a placement plan.

And assuming that "a rescue will take them" is absolutely not a placement plan.

Because rescue is full.

Not pretend full.

Not "we don't feel like helping today" full.

FULL.

Kennels are occupied.

Foster homes are occupied.

Veterinary bills are enormous.

Food disappears almost as quickly as we can bring it through the door.

Volunteers are exhausted.

And our phones keep ringing.

There is always another dog.

Another litter.

Another emergency.

Another person telling us that if we don't take them, they don't know what will happen.

Think about the weight of that sentence.

"If you don't take them, I don't know what will happen."

That puts the life of an animal into the hands of the very people already carrying dozens of other lives.

That isn't sustainable.

Shared responsibility means the animal problem belongs to all of us.

I founded Animal Angels Network because I believe deeply in rescue.

But the longer I do this work, the more convinced I become that rescue alone will never solve this problem.

We could build another kennel tomorrow.

And fill it.

Build another one next month.

And fill that one, too.

Find ten more fosters.

Full.

Find twenty.

Full.

There will never be enough kennel doors if we don't start closing the faucet.

And that requires something much less glamorous than rescue photographs and dramatic saves.

It requires responsibility.

Spay and neuter your pets.

Keep them contained.

Don't breed an animal simply because you can.

Don't create a litter without understanding the lifelong responsibility attached to every life you intentionally create.

Microchip your animals.

Vaccinate them.

Provide appropriate shelter, food, water and veterinary care.

If you see an animal suffering, don't assume somebody else will handle it.

If your neighbor's dog is chained outside without water in dangerous heat, speak up.

If a stray shows up and you can safely offer a bowl of water while help is being located, do it.

If you can foster, foster.

If you can adopt, adopt.

If you can donate, donate.

If you can transport, transport.

If all you can do today is put fresh water outside for the birds during a brutal Missouri summer, then do that.

Kindness does not require a nonprofit license.

Neither does responsibility.

We have to stop asking only, "Who will rescue them?"

We need to start asking:

Why do so many animals need rescuing in the first place?

That question is harder.

Because sometimes the answer isn't a monster.

Sometimes it isn't a puppy mill.

Sometimes there isn't a dramatic cruelty case or an evil person we can all collectively condemn.

Sometimes the answer is ordinary people making irresponsible choices over and over and over again.

And those choices multiply.

Literally.

One unaltered dog becomes a litter.

That litter becomes dogs placed into homes where some remain unaltered.

Those dogs produce more litters.

And eventually somebody calls us.

We cannot keep treating the rescue community as the emergency exit for every preventable decision involving an animal.

There has to be shared responsibility.

From lawmakers.

From breeders.

From veterinarians.

From rescues.

From shelters.

From municipalities.

From communities.

And most importantly, from every single person who chooses to own an animal.

Owning an animal is not simply having one when life is convenient.

It is accepting responsibility for another living creature whose entire existence may depend upon the decisions you make.

That should mean something.

I still believe people are good.

If I didn't, I couldn't continue doing this work.

Every day I see extraordinary kindness alongside extraordinary irresponsibility.

I see people open their homes to animals they've never met.

I see volunteers drive hours.

I see veterinarians fight for lives.

I see strangers buy dog food for families they don't know.

I see people share posts until a dog finally finds somewhere safe to land.

That is the world I want to build upon.

Not one where rescue organizations become bigger and bigger because more animals need saving.

I want a world where rescue organizations become less necessary because communities become more responsible.

That is success.

So yes, let's fight puppy mills.

Let's demand humane breeding standards.

Let's challenge bad laws.

Let's call out cruelty wherever we see it.

But let's also have the courage to look in our own neighborhoods.

Our own communities.

Our own backyards.

Because right now, rescue is drowning in animals who never needed to become homeless in the first place.

Twenty-seven dogs from one small community in one week should tell us something.

This isn't simply a rescue problem anymore.

It is a community problem.

And community problems require community solutions.

The animals belong to all of us in the sense that their welfare is a shared human responsibility.

You don't have to save every animal.

None of us can.

But we can each stop creating preventable suffering.

We can each care about the animal standing directly in front of us.

We can each make responsible choices.

We can each choose decency.

And maybe that is where real rescue begins.

Not when the kennel door closes behind another abandoned dog.

But much earlier

when somebody decides that animal should never have needed rescuing at all.

 Cynthia Susanne
Founder, Animal Angels Network