Sunday, July 13, 2008

Death Row Doggy

(click image to enlargenize)

Bizarro is brought to you today by Shallow Choices.
"Why rescue an innocent critter from Death Row when you can spend thousands on a purebred that matches your hair?"

I was thinking about the cliche cartoon premise of a dog eating a kid's homework one day and wondered what would happen if you took that scenario to its extreme. The dog develops a homework addiction and has to have it every day. The kid he lives with isn't studious enough to satisfy the dog's cravings. The one place the dog can depend on getting plenty of homework is at a school. He disguises himself as a teacher.

As in all crimes outside of the White House, however, he eventually gets caught and ends up in the hoosegow.

P.S. Never buy a dog or cat from any kind of breeder or pet store. There are literally millions of great animals – purebreds and mutts alike – put to death at city animal shelters every single day. They need our help more than we need a fashion accessory for our home.

13 comments:

Penny Mitchell said...

Dan, thank you a billion times for your stance on this issue. We have a purebred Golden Retriever: rescue organization. Near-purebred Siamese: stray. Purebred Turkish Angora: animal shelter. The biggest abomination of all is that we have a kitty with deformed front legs who resulted from STUPID PEOPLE trying to breed Dwarf or Munchkin cats. She has more personality than any cat I've ever known, but was destined to be euthanized because of her deformities.

All breeders of all breeds of dogs,
cats and birds need to be put out of business. Until we reach the point where there are ZERO animals being euthanized in this country, deliberately breeding more of them should be illegal. I loathe them, truly.

Ginger said...

I think breeders should be euthanized.

Piraro said...

Great comments, thanks!
d

HollyBerry said...

wow speak of the devil! i heard about this story on bob & tom this morning where a lady in tazmania is making cats into hats... actually, when i heard them talk about it i thought "dan piraro is NOT gonna like this." and here you are already talking about it! crazy.

my boyfriend and i are getting a dog in the near future and we definitely plan on going to a shelter. have a great day!

beforewisdom said...

I didn't know what was wrong with breeders a while back. An activist summed it up for me.

Breeders are the factory farms of the pet world.

Lets say you don't care about the conditions your pet lived in before you go it. Well, since they are factory farms for pets you often end up paying for a cat or dog that comes with various illnesses.

Shelters check out their animals. You know what you are getting.

beforewisdom said...

About animal shelters.

I want to know why there is still a companion animal overpopulation problem in this country.

While many animal shelters and animal advocacy groups have very little money, there are some sitting on huge stock piles of money.

The stray and overpopulation issue can be solved with education and money. Exactly what those one or two groups have.....and...some of those groups had that mission as their original mission.

Anonymous said...

When my fiancée and I move (back) to Australia we're getting a cat and a dog from an animal shelter.

Nate said...

Just wondering-literally millions of dogs killed every day? Seems a bit much, what's your source? I think millions a year is more reasonable...

Penny Mitchell said...

Beforewisdom, show me a shelter sitting on a "huge stockpile of money" and I'll eat my shoes. Seriously. Show me some facts to back that up.

And it's logical to think that the pet overpopulation problem could be solved with education and money, but...Americans aren't very logical. Either they're convinced that their little snookums is so precious that to deny the world his/her offspring would be an absolute crime, or they just don't give a shit. Or, even better! they combine the two make a quick few hundred bucks selling animals of questionable lineage to other stupid people who will continue in the grand tradition of not spaying or neutering.

Education only works when people are willing to be open-minded to a new point of view. We're living in the most self-centered and ignorant time this nation has ever had. "Education" doesn't work on the the average self-centered, uneducated, reality-TV loving 'Merikin.

Not that I'm jaded, or anything.

L. Erskine said...

I got my kitties from an adoption place that is at Petsmart every weekend. The people were knowledgeable and extremely helpful. I had issues with one of the cats and they took him back. I didn't get my money back but at least I knew he was cared for. He was a feral who had been caught so they released him where he'd be cared for.

The Petsmart by my house has cats there but they are all associated with a local adoption place/shelter.

I think I was a small child the last time I went into a pet store that actually sold cats and/or dogs.

Anonymous said...

Amen on buying dogs.

Along the same lines, for $25 you buy get a life time supply of clean drinking water for one person Central America. Only $25, drinking water for life.

So spending hundreds for a designer pet is crazy when there are many great cats/dogs that need a home and the money you save could save a life.

Also I love cats and dogs as much as anyone else and it hurts to lose a pet, but to spend thousands of dollars on heart surgery, hip replacement, cloning, and so on on a 15 year old cat or dog is crazy. Sometime letting a pet die with dignity is better than trying to prolong its life for your selfishness. I don't understand why people don't put their old suffering pets to sleep, then rescue a new pet at the animal shelter, and finally use the money they save drinking water for someone who needs it.

LeRoy

beforewisdom said...

Penny;

I didn't say animal shelters were siting on accumulated savings. I said that a few animal advocacy organizations are. At least one whose original mission when it was formed in the 50s was to end the pet overpopulation problem.

RJ said...
This comment has been removed by the author.