About taking your responsibilities (aka, being a benefactor with other people’s wallets).
So, normally when my profession is involved I just hijack some post I consider relevant and where I feel I can give a useful addition. Now, I must write a post because I’m tempted to punch a wall.
Premise: I don’t work in the US or the UK. The Veterinary system in (the rest of) Europe works very differently than these countries. Pet health insurance is fundamentally unheard in some countries. Regarding idiots apparently, we get plenty of them.
The fact: two days ago, the ambulatory of a colleague was trashed. ‘Murderer’ signs, with her name and address, were left in a few shops in her area and on social Networks. This was done by some ‘animal rights’ activists, who declared she had left a small cat to die, because no one wanted to pay her for the care.
Said kitten had been actually taken to her the day before by a family and as the it was not weaned, she offered to take it in. Since she couldn't leave her workplace for a few hours yet and din’t want to leave the kitten unfed for too long, she asked the contribution of a can of milk for kittens (cost around 10 euros, depending on brand). The family said they wished to take care of the kitten by themselves, received instructions to do so and left. The morning after, very early, the same kitten had been abandoned in front of her workplace. The sweet family had apparently changed their mind (or kept the kitten until it could be smuggled out safely from the children’s eyes) and hadn't bothered to feed, give the poor thing a warm place for the night or even wait until the Vet re-opened for the day to leave the animal with her.
Unsurprisingly, after several hours in the cold, the kitten had died and, also unsurprisingly, for the general opinion, the Vet is at fault (no one made an effort to find Sweet Family) for... not taking the kitten anyway with force the day before, I suppose?
The point of this is I’m tired of this bullshit. I didn't sign up for missionary work when I decided to be a Vet. I love my work, I love animals, but I and several other colleagues cannot feed our families and pay our expenses and also feed and care for all the cats and dogs of irresponsible people that won’t pay a penny for them.
You are not a benefactor if you use my wallet for charity: you are a thief. If you take in a living being, be a child or pet, you have to take responsibility for it. Not me. Or your pediatrician. Or television.
I am tired to receive animals in critical conditions because their owner didn’t want to spend money and waited until the last minute. I am very tired of their constant emotional blackmailing. I am very much done with said people trashing us and siccing ‘animal rights’ criminals on us, because if we had worked for free their pet would have been care of way beforehand.
I (and many other colleagues) work for free enough everyday, for strays, for those poor people who really deserve the help anyone can give them.
The rest of those entitled, prickly morons who complain about being in ‘a bad time for everyone’ while preparing for a two months vacation by the sea can go to hell. That is, yes, for free.
