Animal Cruelty

Why are some people so ignorant and selfish?

I live in a rural estate in Australia with fifty other land owners. We all have our own properties and share the co-owned land of hundreds of acres, which is left for wildlife and farm animals to graze upon. There's also many dams and wetlands as well as the beautiful forest and a river.

Our estate is one of the most beautiful places on the planet and full of wildlife. I'm thrilled that kangaroos and wallabies graze on our property every day. I love all animals including dogs and cats, but I don't understand why the owners of some pets don't obey the rules of our covenant. I go for a bush walk every day, and though I usually enjoy my walks, sometimes I don't. 

Why? Because many lot owners don't seem to care about our wildlife and think it's okay to let their dogs and cats roam  around and kill native animals. For the past few weeks there have been a number of large dogs that we've seen chasing kangaroos and wallabies along the dirt roads and then into the woods. This is awful to watch and some of the  kangaroos and wallabies dropped thier joeys from their pouches as they ran to escape. The dogs mauled and killed some joeys, leaving them in the woods and along the bush tracks. I found two dead joeys along the dirt roads and wonder how many there are all through the forest that were killed. The owners are regularly asked to keep their dogs in their own property, but of course most say it wasn't their dogs. They complain that the dogs jump the fence when they are out. What's wrong with the owners? Can't they build better fences? It's against council laws to let dogs and cats roam free, but this doesn't deter some folks.

My other grievance is that many dogs in the past few years have been run over and killed on our estate roads because they are allowed to roam free, cats too. As I said, I love all animals and dogs and cats too, but these ignorant pet owners don't seem to care. They just buy another dog or cat, after all, they can get them cheap at the pound. It's not the dog's or the cat's fault, it's their owners. They shouldn't have animals if they're not going to love them like a family member.

Two days ago, as I was walking around the estate, I saw two big dogs chase a wallaby into a barbedwire fence and then try to attack it. It managed to escape, but injured its back and then those darn dogs chased it into the forest. And all the while the owner stood their shouting at them to come back. They didn't return for half an hour. Now I wonder how many animals were hurt or killed in that time. The dogs should have been on a leash, but the owner didn't have one.

Do those dog owners that let their dogs run free love their pets? I don't think so. There was an article in our local paper recently that reported a number of dogs had been poisoned in town because some folks were sick of dogs attacking them in the streets. The poor dogs must have died a horrible death. That should never happen and as well  as that many magpies died from eating the poisoned meat.

Animals shouldn't suffer because of human ignorance and stupidity.

Look after your pets and keep them safe as well as protecting the world's beautiful wildlife. Native animals have enough to cope with. After all, they have wild predators to chase them without us humans adding to their demise, not to mention many become road-kill. In our estate, motorists are supposed to drive at 30 k per hour, not 60 or 70 like some drivers do.

This Red-necked Wallaby and it's tiny joey was found not far from my house. (Sorry for the upsetting image.)