Surprise: Irresponsible homeowners are irresponsible pet owners
Irresponsible homeowners are irresponsible pet owners. Are you shocked? I’m not shocked. Despite being collectively cast as unassailable victims of predatory lenders who were tricked into buying homes they couldn’t afford, word is getting out that sainted subprime borrowers are not all so sainted after all. Turns out that many of them are not only abandoning their houses upon foreclosure. They’re abandoning their pets, too:
The house was ravaged—its floors ripped, walls busted and lights smashed by owners who trashed their home before a bank foreclosed on it. Hidden in the wreckage was an abandoned member of the family: a starving pit bull.
The dog found by workers was too far gone to save—another example of how pets are becoming the newest victims of the nation’s mortgage crisis as homeowners leave animals behind when they can no longer afford their property.
Pets “are getting dumped all over,” said Traci Jennings, president of the Humane Society of Stanislaus County in northern California. “Farmers are finding dogs dumped on their grazing grounds, while house cats are showing up in wild cat colonies.”
In one such colony in Modesto, two obviously tame cats watched alone from a distance as a group of feral cats devoured a pile of dry food Jennings offered.
“These are obviously abandoned cats,” Jennings said. “They’re not afraid of people, and they stay away from the feral cats because they’re ostracized by them.”
The abandoned pets are overwhelming animal shelters and drawing fury from bloggers, especially as photos of emaciated animals circulate on the Internet.
The first people to enter an abandoned house, such as property inspectors and real estate brokers, have discovered dogs tied to trees in backyards, cats in garages, and turtles, rabbits and lizards in children’s bedrooms.
No one keeps track of the numbers of abandoned pets, but anecdotal evidence suggests that forsaken animals are becoming a problem wherever foreclosures are climbing. Stockton and Modesto have some of the nation’s highest foreclosure rates.
Despite months of warning before a foreclosure, many desperate homeowners run out the clock hoping to forestall an eviction. Then they panic, particularly if they are moving to a home where pets are not permitted.
The situation has become so widespread that the Humane Society urged home owners faced with foreclosure to take their animals to a shelter.
But it’s all someone else’s fault, of course.
Maybe Hillary will propose federal subsidies for animal shelters as part of her grand housing rescue next.
On a related note, I just filed my column on the politics of foreclosure and mentioned these very illuminating blog posts at the Los Angeles Times and Calculated Risk that report on an increasing number of homeowners simply choosing to walk away from their mortgages.
Look for more of that to happen. And more hell to break loose.
Abandoned pets are the least of the problem of a no-consequences culture.
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They probably also eat government-subsidized cheese making the PETA freaks crazy: ill-gotten animal lactation!
Think about the kittttttttttttttttens!
If we can save the life of one hamster, we must move to eradicate foreclosures! Pass the Homenesty Bill and save thousands of starving animals before PETA can have them exterminated. (Sorry, I don’t have a link to the stories that PETA euthanizes thousands of animals.)
Well, they want US to bail them out for their homes, kids, meals, can’t pay taxes, can’t pay the electricity, heating, and now the pets! If any person would leave a pet, they would leave a child. These people have not ounce of shame. We are paying for their sorry ‘I don’t want to be responsible for anything’ rears!
L
Pets have been abandoned since people started having pets. This whole cock-and-bull story depends on anecdotal evidence from one source. I’d like to know how Traci (with an i
) determines why the pets were abandoned. Does she interview them? Did Spot show up on her doorstep with a note tucked into his collar?
This story could easily have been about pets being abandoned because 1) the California Guard deployed to Iraq, 2) the family couldn’t afford Spot and little Timmy’s health insurance, 3) illegals were forced to return home (I wish), ad nauseam.
These people clearly were duped into acquiring these pets. At some point, a predatory cat or dog clearly outsmarted these borrowers into assuming a responsibility that they clearly can’t be held responsible for.
Did these cats and dogs TELL their prospective owners “I eat, and you will have to buy me food.” ??? Did they say, in both English and Spanish, “I poop, and you will have to buy me kitty litter.”???
I SUBMIT THAT THEY DID NOT!
I submit that these dogs and cats utilized their superior positions in the great capitalist empire to TRICK these unsuspecting borrowers and owners into assuming a role that they were not fit for.
In summary, we now can state unequivocably:
1. These people, for the most part, are stupider than dogs and cats,
2. The victims of this crime - the stupid people, not the cats and dogs - are entitled to at least ONE TRILLION DOLLARS in reparations.
3. “The Rich” will pay for everything. If someone could find “The Rich,” please hand them the bill. I’m assuming that “The Rich” is just like “The Donald.” One person named “Rich,” who just happens to be insanely wealthy…
Planned Parenthood and PETA are part of the same umbrella organization. Look soon for animal abortion centers springing up in these areas!
Don’t drink the Kool-Aid!
The Humane Society was founded in 1954 when the postwar economy was booming…and pets were being abandoned.
The only thing this stoty tells me is that not much has changed since 1954.
Abandoned pets…doing the jobs Americans don’t want.
BUSH LIED, PUPPIES DIED!
Curse you, busted link!
I can’t believe that those liberals in Calif. would abandon their mortgages and their animals like that. Could this be Bush’s fault?
One consequence of the demographic bulge is that the housing market is going to be under pressure for the next several decades, as older people move out of homes that are now bigger than they need, or into managed care of some sort.
I laughed out loud at your #6 Post Rob.
Excellent.
(I’m continuing that laugh all the way to the mortage lender to lower my fixed interest rate VA home loan.)
Sorry, Mortgage.
Soap still wondering .oO why didn’t Noah release the cats instead of doves?
:ducks
It is just a joke
peoplecat lovers.How a person treats there pets says as much about them as there dealing with other people.
If you can abandon a pet when you lose your house it show me that you can’t be trusted to make a commitment.
Please don’t give the lefties any ideas!
Pyhtboss #10, I just spit out my drink on that one. Too Funny.
Maybe we could get ICE to issue a free pet to every repatriated illegal.
OK, my idea doesn’t have all of the kinks worked out yet.
Whether or not this is tied to the mortgage crisis, it *is* indicative of a the mentality of our disposable culture.
Don’t like it? Toss it.
Don’t want it anymore? Abandon it.
Hate being responsible? Shrug it off.
Whether a pet or a human being, our culture teaches people that they don’t have to make a commitment to the lives they purchase (a pet) or create. Sad thing is, there will probably be more outcry of the abandonment of animals than of the abortion of 48 million children (most who, like these pets, were “unwanted”)…
As the thread on PP & birth control shows, ours is a culture increasingly obsessed with instant self-gratification. We want what we want and we want it now.
Consequences, personal responsibility, and self-restraint be damned.
That’s what caused the mortgage problem in the first place. “Predatory lenders” are only part of the problem - if people weren’t looking for a quick way to get more house than they could afford predatory lenders wouldn’t have a prime market on which to make a quick buck.
Learn patience, perseverance, and personal control. Or is that too politically incorrect to ask for nowadays?
Notice the wording: the animals are victims of the mortgage crisis, not their terrible owners, who are also I guess “victims” of the “crisis.”
When the government pays us to walk away from our responsibilities, we get more of it. Yes, how about a “animal companion” subsidy for those poor souls who are forced to treat their animals like dirt?
If this is the fault of the mortgage companies, who are there are no perp walks, like in the Enron scandal? Because it’s the borrowers’ fault!! And we’re paying for it!!
I don’t think it was the same story, but the Boston Globe recently had a similar story on animal shelters being overwhelmed for this reason. It mentioned the misery of the pet owners,foreclosed home owners all, but one shelter worker said it was the animals people should feel sorry for - they didn’t know what or why this was happening to them.
Maybe they could give those abandoned pets to illegals for their food.
Don’t they eat dogs in Mexico???
Gross, but at least it’s an idea.
So when do we get to read about the tragic plight of Palestinian pets?
“As the thread on PP & birth control shows, ours is a culture increasingly obsessed with instant self-gratification. We want what we want and we want it now.”
Sounds like the left wanting to pull out of the war. It’s not going fast enough for them.
Just goes to show the irresponsibilty of people. To many people, pets are like kids. As we learn to become more irresponsible and entitled to “so called rights”, we become accustomed to blaming others for our own misdeeds. This all begins with our public schools, parents too busy to teach, and a government and trial lawyer eager to “help” with our victimhood. We insist that others be responsible, hence the fortunes of lawyers, yet, find excuses to forgive our wrongs. As history has taught us, and our Founding Fathers taught us, it is the demise of all civilizations. We live now in an “instant gratification” society constantly bombarded with “Buy now. Order today. Call now”. Budgeting and finance is something fewer people know anymore. Why should we? We have credit cards now. Charge now, and pay sometime in the distant future. “Have your credit card ready.” So, the National government (I call it “national” because Federal no longer applies) passes bills, like the Community Reinvestment Act of 1977 (updated by Clinton in ‘92), requiring the lenders lend money to all, even questionable credit risks. Now, those questionable credit risks are abandoning their homes…and pets. And we stand there…shocked! Now, the government must rescue us from our own ignorance (95% pay their mortgages on time…what crisis?). Eventually, the government will control the mortgage lenders…err…for our own good. And, we will be pleased, as always! The “Contract Clause” of the Constitution expressly forbids this, yet, we, wanting to immediately right our wrongs, ignore this “inconvenient” clause and applaud our national government for their interference. Hypocrisy, especially when we demand our Constitutional right of “privacy” which doesn’t exist in that document anyway and privacy in our own financial interests is what we insist. We have a society now, eager to support Presidental candidates who are eager to spend our money on our own ignorance. They stand, give speeches, and receive applause for showing how we are victims and our neighbors, near and far (illegals) are victims. They want to bail us out…rebates, extensions of unemployment, “tax the rich”. They divide us on race and wealth. And, all we can say is, “Yeah, yeah, go get em”, never realizing the loss of liberty that we, once , so cherished. We have people now, abandoning pets. No problem, government will help, as always, and we move on. One day, good people, we will wake up and find all liberty is gone and we will smile and applaud those who took it away, because we are “entitled victims” and too busy to care anyway…soccer practice and my favorite reality show is on.
Let’s try again. Drum roll…
Abandoned pets…doing the jobs Americans don’t want.
Hey, Tiger,you got a problem with the “i?”
This calls for government action. We definitely need a “No Pet Left Behind” program.
Train the dogs and put them on border patrol..
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH! Great one texas Tiger.
No. It’s all in the “i” of the beholder.
Some people are just naturally scum…..
Some really work at it hard.
Scum like this should be given a small bucket and set adrift in a leaking boat placed in the middle of a sewage treatment plant retention pond.
Tell them they need to feel what it’s like bailing out and cleaning up other people’s crap.
TexasTiger, you’re quickly becoming my favorite poster.
Just a variant on our irresponsible population’s favorite mantra: “My life isn’t perfect; who(m) do I sue?”
“My greedy, unrealistic investment hasn’t panned out, who(m) do I dump this on?”
Maybe this will weed out bad risk home buyers for the next 30 years. And careless lenders.
I wonder what they will do when their landlord raises the rent after a year in their new apartment?
I’m a Realtor & I’ve seen it here in New Mexico.I’ve had to call Animal Control to pick up abandoned animals at foreclosed houses.I’ve found 2 dogs that were chained up & obviously starved to death.
I don’t doubt the stories.
Best of the day. My homage:
Huck lied, squirrels were fried!
Michael Vick was unavailable for comment.
The pets, not the people who abandoned them, are the real victims. The pets don’t have a say, and don’t understand what it happening to them, and they family they have known, and given unconditional love, leaves them behind. Irresponsible pet owners is a huge pet peeve of mine. Used to live in a small college town. One of my cats, who has since passed away, was abandoned at the end of the fall semester, dumped near my boss’ landlady’s home. Being the sucker I am, I thought “what’s one more cat when I have 2 already”. That, and the emaciated dog I found near my office building one day, living in that same small town: you could see the poor thing’s ribs. God only knows how I managed to get her in the car that night… I took her home and kept her until the no-kill shelter had room for her (in addition to my cats, I also had two large dogs). “Daisy”, I discovered, had been eating leaves (you don’t want to know…). She eventually filled out and was a sweet thing, and was eventually adopted. There is a special place in hell for people who mistreat animals like this…
I don’t doubt the stories either. But that’s all they are is stories. My point is that the stories are being spun to fit the action line of the “Hot Topic of the Day.”
Foreclosures are not a new. Abandoned pets are not new. My biggest qualm with the story is the assumption that a Humane Society official knows the credit history of every family that abandons a pet. Maybe Traci is mindlessly attributing the subprime crisis to every stray that’s brought in.
As a volunteer who works for a local shelter, this makes me sick to my stomach. And I can’t believe anyone is surprised.
I travel through a lot of neighborhoods in the Philadelphia area. And while it’s true that anyone of any income level can be a complete asshat when it comes to animal care, the fact is that it’s in the poor neighborhoods where I see the most cats out, starving in the streets, getting run over by cars, and breeding like flies. Mind you, I also see Lexuses and BMWs parked on these streets. These people aren’t going hungry. But their animals sure are.
My biggest problem with all this?
The lack of personal responsibility. Today’s culture is mired in victimology. I am sick and tired of people blaming everyone and everything else except themselves.
Grow up. Get a life. Get responsible.
letget said:
That’s a bit of a stretch, isn’t it? I would jump in front of a bus to push my child out of the way. But my dog? Sorry, Lu-chan, you’ve been a clever pooch. I hope your replacement enjoys your squeeky chew toys.
#43, http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,326356,00.html
Just saying….
I don’t agree with Michelle much these days, but this is an issue I hope Americans can come to terms with quickly. No, not the pets, the total lack of self-reliance. Not one candidate or elected official talks about it — well, if they do, they’ve proven they have zero credibility on the subject so I’ve tuned them out.
The USA is becoming the new Europe.
Oh,great,now PETA can sue the banks,realtors and mortgage brokers for taking unfair advantage of the poor little creatures;after all they are “part of the family”,at least until we get tired of them or they became a liability.Kind of like those unwanted pregnanies on college campuses that the government must pay to avoid.We should ship every member of the ACLU and PETA to Arabia,or N.Korea-they would fit right in.
What a colossal crock o’ merde.
Mine too, Ladybug. It’s good to know my family and I are not alone. We have three dogs and two cats, the five of whom were abandoned rescues within our community.
Interestingly, while some liberals say conservatives are too cold hearted and socially unaware to care what happens to anyone or anything but themselves, within the confines of my own little county, where everyone knows of or about nearly everyone else, I’m yet to see any of our more illustrious, wealthy Democrat citizens by the roadside trying to lure a scared dog or cat out of hiding and into the waiting arms of someone willing to help!
They just don’t understand how complicated it is to buy a pet these days! These people were preyed upon by eeevil people in the pet industry. It’s not their fault! Congress needs to do something about this right now!
This story made me very sad and mad. Anyone who would abandon a pet without food or water is sub-human. Sorry, that is how I feel. IT’s totally mean and unethical and sickening.
PETA wasn’t mentioned in the article so I am not sure why others are blasting PETA. Just for the record: I am a conservative AND I totally support PETA. Hey, man, they are working their butts off trying to make the world a better place for animals who rely on us. In my view, they are doing a ton of good…much more than any of you PETA bashers are, I AM SURE.
It’s very common to cut down those with more noble ideals and this is exactly why people bash animal rights activists…because they are doing good, living more consciously and it bugs the crap out of people who can’t live to higher standards themselves. Sorry, it’s the TRUTH!!!
By the way, I want to add, it’s kind of silly to assume animal advocacy is a liberal/leftist cause. It is not. I am a petitioner in the state of CA for more Humane Treatment of Farm animals, and I can tell you, MANY conservatives have happily signed my petition and me and my friends have witnessed hippy types, rastafarian types and others who seem progressive to be totally indifferent. Caring about the treatment of animals is a matter of compassion and decency not left or right…so it’s best to save your comments. Also, it’s embarrassing to the conservative cause to be so hard about this issue. It just reinforces the image of conservatives as being “hard hearted” which is not attractive. We would do much better if we showed a little bit more caring about things like animals and the environment. And, YES, I AM conservative…I will STAY HOME if McCain wins the nomination.
Soliel, you sound like a very kind and thoughtful person, but I couldn’t disagree with you more on several quick points.
First, animal abuse is a left vs. right issue because the left has made it one. Rather than openly debate conservatives on issues like the sub-prime collapse or S-CHIP expansion, the left prefers to hide behind images of abused-/neglected children and animals and launch adhominem attacks and make misrepresentations against conservatives and their positions.
Second, PETA is not a friend to animals. They are anarchists. Their in-your-face tactics of dousing paint and posing nude in public places have done more harm than good to the cause of helping animals, and amount to little more than self-promotion. Your time and effort, in my view, would be much better spent supporting the ASPCA – a group which actually does help animals by taking the abusers to court.
Third, I live in an area where Democrats greatly out-number Republicans. I was only relating my personal experiences and frustrations with the conditions that exist and inhibit bringing abandoned and mistreated animals the help they need.
Lastly, if selected as our nominee, I will have no other choice but to vote for McCain - remember, deciding to stay home may well equate to a vote for Hillary!
Anyone with an ounce of feelings or humanity or empathy does not need to be told this.
What do these people think are going to happen to their abandoned animals? They know. They know and they don’t care. Any more than they care about taking care of their property.
I’m a home inspector, though not usually one who enters the house. My job is to check out houses that are in foreclosure and bankruptcy and determine if they are still occupied or have been abandoned and notify the mortgage company to send someone authorized to go inside.
I haven’t come across any abandoned animals yet, thank God, but I have seen my share of trashed houses. And torched houses.
Most people who are losing their homes are decent people even if they haven’t made the best choices or handled their finances well.
Some are jerks who take out their frustration by beating up the house they’ve lost. And not giving a damn about the living, breathing creatures who used to live with them.
Messing with pets = the quickest way to make me violent. I’m sure there are other ways, but I haven’t experienced them yet.
I too feel compassion for the animals.The line,NO CONCIQUENCE CULTURE is a gem.It hits the nail on the head.When I grew up my parents taught me that if you made a mistake the only thing to do is admit it and take your lumps like an adult.