Letter to the Editor
Debbie Foster

Dear Editor,

This letter is concerning the animal abuse and neglect in this county. People sometimes choose to look the other way, and try not to think about it because they say “it bothers them too much” so they choose not to think about it, do nothing about it, and hope it will go away. It won’t go away, no matter how much people try not to think about it. It is not going away until people who care do something to make it go away. Puppies and kittens, dogs and cats are dumped in this county every single day to starve to death. Sometimes people dump them next to churches, lakes, cemeteries, trying to justify what they do by thinking someone will pick them up and take them home. More often than not, they die. We do not have a dog and/or cat problem in this county…we have a people problem…It is irresponsible and uncaring people who dump these animals and refuse to have them spayed/neutered. To these people, I say, Shame on you!!! . There is a man living in this county who takes in animals that are dumped on him by uncaring people. He tries to take care of them, but has no resources to do so, and sometimes he is hungry himself. What is the matter with this county? How many times have I received calls saying “if you don’t come and take this dog or cat, I have a bullet that will do the trick. What is this teaching our children? Perhaps we should teach them that according to Mahatma Ghandi, “The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.”

The Bible teaches that righteous people treat animals kindly. Proverbs 12:10 states, “A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast; but the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel.” You cannot just look the other way if you believe Proverbs 31:8 “Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves. Protect the rights of all who are helpless.” The great abolitionist, Henry Ward Beecher said, “ For fidelity, devotion, love, many a two-legged animal (man) is below the dog and the horse. Happy would it be for thousands of people if they could stand at last before the Judgment Seat and say, “I have loved as truly and I have lived as decently as my dog.” And yet we call them only animals.” Mark Twain said, “In studying the traits and dispositions of the so-called lower animals, and contrasting them with man’s, I find the result humiliating to me.”

Other quotes worth pondering are, “If all the beasts were gone, man would die from loneliness of spirit, for whatever happens to the beast, happens to the man.” -Chief Seattle

“Until he extends the circle of compassion to all living things, Man will not himself find peace.” - Albert Schweitzer. “He who is cruel to animals becomes hard also in his dealings with men. We can judge the heart of a man by his treatment of animals.”- Immanuel Kant “I care not much for a man’s religion whose dog and cat are not the better for it.”- Abraham Lincoln

“The question is not, can they reason? Nor, can they talk? But can they suffer?”-Jeremy Bentham Please think of this the next time you want to look the other way. Things are not going to change until the “people problem” is resolved. If anyone would like to contact the very few volunteers who work for animal welfare in this county, please email fosterd2@ yahoo.com or write a letter to Henderson County Humane Society P.O. Box 243 Lexington, TN 38351. There is no longer a number to be called. I am tired of losing sleep over the “people problem” in this county, and people leaving messages on my machine saying that they will just shoot the dog or cat. I have been told by people who have approached our elected officials that there is no funding for animal welfare and if anything is done for the animals, taxes will have to be raised. The few of us who care want to help these poor defenseless creatures, but I have no time or patience for the people problem. If you want to help abandoned, abused and neglected animals, please send an email or write us a letter. You will have to be willing to help, because this “people problem” has gotten so out of hand that just a few animal lovers cannot handle it alone. I would like to say a very special thank you to Wal Mart for donating the dog food, cat food and pet supplies. Without them it would be impossible to care for any of these animals. We do not have a facility. All our animals are in foster homes. We continue to need foster homes, especially for cats. It would be great to have a volunteers to work on feral cat issues, for example the Trap Neuter Return Project and projects who spay/neuter feral cats and nip their ears as markings to show that they have been vetted including spay/neuter and vaccinations. If you would like to volunteer to be a foster home, transport, etc, please write or email. Thanks so much for the generous donations of a handful of people in the county. Please keep sending your donations, because we are a non profit organization funded solely by donations and receive absolutely no help from city or county governments. May God Bless those of you who care for your compassion. I am ending my letter with the quote from Martin Luther King, Jr.

“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter." MLKJr

Debbie Foster