why do people do shit like this to animals?

[BabyGrace]

allow me just this one rant please?

my neighbors, who are actually lovely people have the fucking loser of a son, he's 32 and still at home with no job and one hell of a drug habit that is slowly (or not so slowly) turning him into even more of a loser. not that I have a problem with this, if he choses that lifestyle, well, that's his choice and if his parents chose to support him no matter what, that's their choice too and all I can say is they are really good people.

but what I DO have a problem with is how he treats their animals when his parents are away (or even just not paying attention). They have three pregnant horses right now and he refuses to clean their stalls (because, heaven forbid, this might require work!), and leaves them so dirty that I am sure they could get hoof diseases from the conditions (not that I know much about the care of horses or anything, but I do know those stalls are disgusting). He also forgets to put the horses in during the day so that the flies won't eat them alive, he screams at them and I've seen him use a whip to get them to do stuff (actually I think he's terrified of them) and, get this, he forgets to feed them! If my mom and I werent around to feed them right now, I have no idea how they'd get food, and I worry about when we won't be around.

Then there's their cats and dogs. He actually loves these smaller animals, and does a relatively good job of taking care of them most of the time, other than forgetting to put down water for a mother cat and her four kittens that are over there right now, leaving the poor mom fairly dehydrated since there isn't too much other water around for her right now, and she's nursing the kittens which really drains her. So I started bringing her some milk to fatten her up, and got them some water and I started visiting them a coupla times a day to somewhat domesticate the kittens who are fairly wild at this point because they aren't getting much human contact (their cats are sort of barn-cat, sort of domestic - not fixed of course).

But here's what really got me. I was over there visiting them earlier today, and he comes around and strikes up a conversation with me that was so random and disjointed I could barely follow it (but that's besides the point), and he starts telling me about how he and his buddies hang out in his car or one of the closets in the house and smoke all this shit, which I knew already, but then he starts telling me how this one shithead 26-year-old friend of his saw the kittens and asked him when they could put them in the car to get them high too. And they regularly takes the cats and the dog in the car with them and gets them high, and the cat is like all stretched out on the dashboard, with it's tongue hanging out, and he seems to think this is so hilarious.

Now I realize some people would just say, "big deal, the cat's getting high, so what, it won't hurt it" but I really have a problem with this and I am totally powerless to do anything about it, besides calling the ASPCA or something ridiculous like that. I could just see it: "um yeah, my neighbor is getting his pets high, come do something about it"
If I was a bolder person I would punch him in the gut or something but instead I just have to sit there and listen to it and nod and be like, "yeah, uh-huh, yeah" and it INFURIATES ME!!
What a fucking bastard. Too bad posting this doesn't make me feel any better

Sorry for over-reacting, but I can't stand it when people do stupid shit like that to their pets for no reason. But I'll shut up now for now, thanks for giving me this posting space

 

[missmacphisto]

I can see your problem.
Even if you could call the ASPCA, they'd prolly just take away the animals and maybe even put them to sleep. Thats their idea of "rescue"
You have every reason to be upset, though of course this is far from the worst crime commited to animals. There is a group called the Hooved Animals Humane Society...They might be able to give you some advice on the horse problem.
As for the cats...I dont know what you could do. Call the police and tell them they're doing crack instaed of pot...Maybe they'd come over and arrest em!
Maybe you could find new homes for the cat/kittens? Its really great that the animals at least have you to help them out and give them food,etc!!!
Or...Write a realistic looking letter to him from the ASPCA...Tell him that "we'er watching you" and are sending the vid to the FBI!!!
Okokok, i'm sorry, i know this isnt helping, I'm just trying to figure out what else you could do.

 

[z edge]

Well that is very sad, animals were put here for a reason just like us and it is terrible that such pathetic people with possibly no real intelligence or self-worth subject these animals to such chemicals or substances beyond their control.

I would tell you that this guy and his "friends" will get theirs some day, but not meant to be a vengeful statement. Truth is, if the guy is 32 and living at home with no job (and everything else you mentioned about him too) , he's already fucked

 

[RavenStar]

I only have one thing to say:

Holy fucking shit

 

[adamswildhoney]

thats screwed up! He should take care of them better

 

[famous rungi]

BabyGrace, whatever you do, please act fast.

I agree that calling the SPCA about it usually doesn't really come to any fruition unless it's a really hard-core, violent case . When I had a neighbour who whacked and chained her puppy (wee thing) all the time, I called the SPCA but they suggested I try to reason with my neighbour first instead. I wrote my neighbour an anonymous letter of warning, and the beating stopped, I suppose, but the dog remains chained all day without walks. At least it doesn't get beaten anymore.

I doubt you could ever reason with this craphead of a guy. So I suggest drastic action, like tell everything to the SPCA, or some responsible organization you got there, and hope for the best. You can't let these animals stay there a day longer.

f.

 

[meriphew]

It is really sad when animals are subjected to abuse. I myself believe in karma, what comes around goes around. He will probably end up getting busted for drugs and sent to jail/prison where he will be mistreated/abused by fellow inmates. That's what I would call justice.

 

[Lilly]

i don't know why, but seeing an animal in pain is more hurtful to me than seeing an animal in pain. perhaps it's because an animal doesn't understand its situation and assumes this is the way its life is supposed to be. tragic really.

 

[Angela Harlem]

The parents BG. Can you talk to them? Send them a letter? I think sneakery is ok in situations like that, the parents sound like reasonable responsible people, maybe they will act if they dont realise what the son is doing or not doing.
With the cats..we had this feral cat that we got when she was about 3-4 months old. She was a stray and we never really got her completely domesticated. After a few years, she adopted herself out to some of our neighbours. She would sepnd weeks at a time with the 2 women who were heavy pot smokers. Sometimes she would come back stinking of it and not being able to walk as well as normal. Whether she was actually high or not we weren't sure, but a vet said she seemed ok, no effects from it. We couldn't stop her going there. She lived to be about 16 years old though.
Another thing, in Aus we have this author Colleen McCulloch who lives on Norfolk Island. She has this ground covering plant that when sniffed by animals makes them high. Don Burke who is a horticulturist of some description was doing a celeb backyard thing on her and said it was amazing as it couldn't be proven to have any effects on the cat for the long term. The cat himself was a big fat old thing who was just extremely mellow. He laid on the ground covering all day in the sun - getting his daily dose.
Point is, I'm not sure if its been proven to have any dangerous side effects on cats. If someone can show this to be inaccurate, please do. But there are 2 acounts of it not being a huge prob. Maybe it is one less thing for you to worry about. I'd be worried about what ideas the friends would get to do to the cats while they are high.
The pregnant horses are another matter. Do try something BG, its not interfering. Good luck matie!

 

[hiphop]

Poor horses, poor cats.
I don?t know what you could do... if he?s one of those with who you are not able to speak normally... if you want to send an anonymous letter, do it. If you think it helps. Talk to his parents, yes. If they have a heart, they will watch the animals better. Ask them why they don?t kick him out of the house. Tell them that that?s not your business, and no offense there, but if animals suffer, you really care about it.
If all this doesn?t help, steal the weed and burn it in front of his eyes "so that the birds in the sky get high like your cats". If he has any problem with that, ask him why he doesn?t want birds to fly (and if he asks where you got it, say from his friends ).

 

[KhanadaRhodes]

i don't know why, but seeing an animal in pain is more hurtful to me than seeing an animal in pain.

anyway, i agree that the parents should be contacted first. why they're even allowing their 32 year old son to continue freeloading off of them is beyond me. but, i'm sure they have no idea what is going on. if you tell them, they may stop going away so much or at least pay more attention to what their son is and isn't doing.

 

[BabyGrace]

Well, a little positive news: he finally cleaned the stalls for the first time yesterday. I think he knew my mom and I were on to him. The thing is, though, his parents DO take proper care of the animals when they are home. It's just they go up to New Hampshire for most of the summer and leave him in charge of the place and unfortunately the animals as well. This has happened before and last time my mom called them up in NH and told them that he wasn't taking care of the horses. He of course denied it, and the mother basically reprimanded her son but at the same time gave him the benefit of the doubt and she still has no problems leaving him in charge of things even when all of her horses are pregnant (which yes, worries me a lot). It's a hard position to be in because as I said before, his parents are wonderful people and I don't want to end up in a fight with them about their son because I guess it isn't really my business and of course they will side with their son.
And I'd never want to do something as drastic as calling the ASPCA because, as MissMac said, then WILL take the animals away, and who knows what happens to them then--I've heard some horror tales about it, and yeah, they do put them down often. And anyway, once again, the parents don't deserve to lose their animals because of him.
Actually the horses worry me a lot more than the cats do, because the cats are used to fending for themselves and are much more capable, and anyway they have a warm home in the barn that isn't going to disappear on them. Thanks for bringing that up Angie; I didn't really think the drugs would have too much of a long-term effect on the cats or the dog; that just made me so incredibly angry because I let my personal views get in the way on that one. I'm strongly anti-drug, I mean it's fine if someone chooses to do that to themself but DON'T drag other people into it, and the fact that it's not even people but animals who have no ability to control the situation whatsoever really made me mad. You're right though, I've thought about that aspect of it, what they might do when they're high, and that worries me a lot too, but as far as I know, they've done nothing so far other than laugh at the prospect of a cat high on pot so I guess there isn't too much I can do about that.
I'm sure the parents know about his drug habit; there's no way they couldn't, and they must know that he takes the pets in the car with him. I don't think they support it but at the same time, they don't have the guts to kick him out and force him to take care of himself.
In a couple of years though, the family is planning to move up to New Hampshire permanently, and then they're certainly not going to have a vacation home in Jersey, so my guess is the parents will be around to watch things the whole year, and at that point it will be totally out of my control anyway. I guess the best my family can do is watch over things while they are still here.

Foray, they still don't walk the dog? That reminds me of some people that used to walk their two dogs by my old house when I was really little; the guy always carried a huge stick, and everytime the dogs pulled on the leash or stopped to sniff something, he would beat them with it. I remember one time my dog went up to greet them and he tried to beat her too, and my mom went up to the road and screamed at the guy and threatened to call the ASPCA if he didn't stop beating his dogs. I don't know if he stopped; he did stop walking the dogs by our house though. The only time I saw them after that was chained in their fenced-in backyard....like what are they going to do? jump your six-foot fence?? Those kind of people are sick fucks, but that kind of case is a lot more drastic than what my pothead neighbor is doing. I'm really glad you did something about that puppy though, even if it's only slightly better for it