not technically related but i was walking my dog earlier this week in norwich and we headed down a long alleyway where we immediately bumped into a young man with a small yorkshire terrier. we got chatting and i found out that she was a recuse dog and had only been with him a few days! i commented that she seemed very contented as her tail was wagging and she was having fun with my dog. 'you must have done a good job with her' i said, when he looked straight at me, eyes burning into mine and stated that she'd been locked in a flat - vets felt she hadn't been fed for weeks. she was a mess, on her last legs when this guy, who just happened to go and investigate the property as part of his job found the poor girl. he immediately took her to the vets, paid to have her operated on, and basically just prayed that she would make a recovery and when she finally got the all clear he took her in. he said that she'd really struggled over the first few days to adapt and would cry and hide behind the furniture. she hadn't eaten a thing and he and his girlfriend were extremely concerned that she was too far gone. they had discussed that morning whether this was not going to work. UNTIL, he walked her down that alley way that morning - the first time he'd ever managed to get her to walk away from his house - and was stopped by about 8 people with their dogs; they'd all stopped to chat, they'd all made a fuss of his terrier, she'd even taken treats from most of the owners... all of a sudden she perked up and by the time i came on the scene she was a different dog! all it took was a little bit of love and attention from people who took two minutes out of their day to make a fuss of a small dog. he walked away looking tearful. i walked away very happy
First of all - welcome back Rich. I will tread very carefully here for whilst I abhor the way Carrabuh stated his case I do agree with the gist of what he is saying. I find it disturbing that animal charities never seem to have trouble raising money but, as an example, a Hospice struggles for funds. There is also the contradictions, verging on hypocrisy, surrounding animals and in saying that I will display my own contradictions. I am a very charitable person but I will not give money to animal charities as I feel they already get too much and ' human welfare ' charities are far more worthy. Very righteous but I then contribute to CAMRA and certain political funds - are they more worthy? People say we are a nation of animal lovers - are we? We spend small fortunes protecting dogs and cats etc but what about lambs, pigs etc - you bop them on the head and eat them. British people go bonkers at the thought of eating horsemeat - why? In fact we are a nation of ' some animal' lovers. Another contradiction - I am a Republican so why do I get angry because the main animal charity is a ' Royal ' and the main childrens charity is a ' national ' Another contradiction - I don't support animal charities but I think it is wrong to kill mammals for food and therefore haven't eaten meat for 30 years. This thread started because one dog attacked and killed another dog. Very sad but which so called animal lover worries about their cat going out and slaughtering half the wildlife in Norfolk just for the fun of it. Set up a charity to bring displaced Syrian children to safety and you get ' can't do that - we have enough needy children here already' Set up a charity to rescue donkeys from Syria and you will get enough money to fill fields with them - haven't we got enough of our own needy animals? I could go on but I won't bore you further but I just felt that this discussion had got very one sided due to unfortunate comments made by Carrabuh.
Supers I'm genuinely quite choked by that story. It's just a real shame there aren't more people like that in the world. If you see him again, shake his hand from me!
Blood => boiling point. When I tell people that I dislike cats (intensely ) they're all incredulous. Fed twice a day - minimum, but still destroying anything that crawls, scampers or sadly, flies. Evil killers.
As I think I said earlier I can appreciate that attitude. But I'll say this show me what I can really do to sort Syria or Gaza out? Voting will make no difference, writing letters, protesting sending money? Let's be honest there's NOTHING we can do to sort those things because they are 2 or more lots of people who both "know" they're right, invoking whichever arbitrary deity they think gives them the right etc and the way they establish their position is to dominate, rape, mutilate, murder in the name of <insert piss poor excuse here> The other thing is these are people doing it to people, at least a human can understand it avoid it, run away, fight back etc what chance has an animal got, they're not self aware, they Trust etc. If I could do something to fix Syria or Gaza I'd do it but it's never going to happen because all the sides are intractable and want power or to kill each other etc. I CAN make a difference with the way I act and support my community etc. You can make a HUGE difference to someone's day/life with just a few words. I saw the nurse up the hospital yesterday for bloods and on the way out I said have a lovely evening and got a huge smile back, it's not hard to make a small difference here even if it's just being polite.
Essentially Carrabu`s views on giving money to charities saving and protecting people ahead of animals is completely reasonable in my eyes, but sharing them on this thread is uncalled for and futile. Everyone laying the boot into him for sharing his views is equally repugnant . I genuinely feel sad about Rich and his illness and would gladly contribute towards doing something nice for him, i hope that doesn`t come across as patronising Rich .
people are laying the boot in BECAUSE of the nature of the opening post. totally uncalled for. he shouldn't have posted anything if that was how he felt.
Do you really think carrabuh was unaware of the furore he would cause? He comes across as a well educated man to me therefore I think his remarks were deliberate and pretty much uncalled for!
Just seen this, yes I know it's cats but no animal deserves to be treated like this http://www.eveningnews24.co.uk/news...d_in_sealed_box_and_left_in_hot_sun_1_3706967
rich, unfortunately its not that unusual these days- sad but true. on the general anger, it has nothing to do with the fact that not everyone cares about this thread but I don't see the need to stir things up with comments that basically suggests that anyone who supports the feelings on this thread are morons. a simple good luck but it doesn't interest me or even not posting would both be understandable.
I'll post exactly what I want thanks. And if I feel a charity is unworthy, then I'm quite happy to confront it and not be put off because someone has attached a sentimental story to the cause. I don't want to see people giving money to dog charities ahead of others. I don't doubt people get great joy from dogs but they are not people, there are too many, they are bad for the environment, they are expensive to care for. You will have people objecting passionately about immigration and wanting to stop people wanting a better life, yet they will gladly give to dog charities. How many of you with that belief on here? I have said nothing offensive, I'm questioning peoples priorities and ethics and essentially I'd say you all mostly agree with my main point (because you'd be psychopaths if you didn't). If you had a homeless man and a homeless dog and £20 to provide a decent meal and shelter for one, which do you pick? You all know the answer. This is no different.
I find carrabuh views a bit pointless to be honest. There's many charities out there that's helping all sorts of different problems in the world and they all require charity money. I try and give money to all kind of different charities if or when I have spare money to do so, I don't think about who deserves it more because they all deserve it equally for all the hard work they do and trying to make a difference. All charities supporting all different courses is important imo.
I agree Drunky and we all like to give to whatever charities we believe in and can afford to donate to. Carrabuh raises some valid points, but IMO this particular thread was not the ideal one on which to vent his feelings - though I can somehow understand why he chose to do it.
Yeah I agree this isn't a thread to debate about it. I just don't think no charities should be looked down upon, no matter what charities you believe in because they are all there to help those in need and equally important all charities get supported. But anyway, I've said what I wanted and won't go on about it
Sorry, are you talking about dogs or humans here? I certainly know which there are too many of, which are worse for the environment and which cost the most to care for. Don't speak for me friend, that wouldn't necessarily be the case for me at all. Of course there are far too many homeless people out there who have been unfortunate in life, made a bad decision somewhere along the line or have been dealt a bad hand in some way, but there are some who have ended up there out of sheer stupidity and so why would I deprive a dog who had never hurt a person or thing in it's entire life several good feedings over someone who would more than likely pour the £20 down their neck rather than eat it? There have been many, many things both in my lifetime and looking back at history that have made me lose my faith in humanity, the current abhorrence going on in Gaza for example, however I've never been let down by any dog, ever.
I was just watching a programme presented by Morgan Freeman some scientist has done a load of research in various countries and found that we are slowly moving away from religion and within so many years people with religious beliefs will be in the minority. That day cannot come soon enough, maybe we can finally begin to grow up as a species and instead of waving a book and using it as a reason to kill each other we can sit down and sort it out. If we can't do that we deserve to be wiped out as a species so something else gets a chance.
Exactly the point I was going to make. Humans are damaging this planet far more than any other species and before long there will be far too many of us to be sustained. This is obviously a different issue entirely but as far as I see it giving money to a starving family in Africa so they can live a bit longer, maybe have a few more kids but still be in generally the same situation is fruitless. The human race as a whole needs to come together and start making real changes (I know, what a crazy idea!) for those in the most need. Charities are just the western way of making ourselves feel better, feel like we're doing something, but we're just papering over the cracks!
