This is the first of what could be many venting posts. I'll consider myself to have accomplished something if I reach "several" in the next couple of months, though. I've always tended to papillonne if allowed to, and that tendency is particularly bad lately. Me getting frustrated and angry at things I see online and wanting to say something does seem to be a fairly constantly thing, though, so perhaps this will work. I may even get back to being able to be angry and funny at the same time at some point. What a droll idea. ("Droll"--must use that word more often.)

So, today's source of steam is a video entitled "Surrendered" which I've seen posted two or three different places on Facebook today.

You'd be forgiven for thinking that the video has me mad about the people who behave in the way portrayed, the people who surrender pets for no very good reason. I do feel for the shelter and rescue workers who work day in and day out with people who want to surrender an animal. I know they encounter a lot of assholes; I know they hear a lot of bullshit. 

But what upsets me about this video is that all it does is say, "Hey, you. You're an asshole." It expresses some perhaps much earned bitterness and completely understandable frustration, but it contributes nothing to a bigger discussion or solution. Do you want that asshole coming into your facility to surrender an animal they no longer want or are able to care for, or do you want them to leave the animal on the street or at a farm or in an empty home or apartment? Do you want the asshole bringing the pet to a shelter or to a veterinary office for euthanization?

People who surrender animals for what many of us consider stupid reasons aren't going to watch a video like this and feel shitty about themselves. They think they're already making a big effort by taking the animal to an actual organization where it has a chance of finding a home. Convince them that the workers at that organization are going to be judgmental, impatient, and sullen, and, yeah, they'll probably stop showing up to surrender their animals. If you think that will prevent the animals from being abandoned, you're far more optimistic about human beings and human nature than I am.