{"id":1424,"date":"2002-01-09T15:49:57","date_gmt":"2002-01-09T20:49:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/?p=1424"},"modified":"2002-01-09T15:49:57","modified_gmt":"2002-01-09T20:49:57","slug":"a_dog_eat_dog_w","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2002\/01\/09\/a_dog_eat_dog_w.html","title":{"rendered":"A Dog-eat-dog world"},"content":{"rendered":"

Okay, so that’s the headline everyone’s using. Get over it.<\/p>\n

Huge uproar<\/a> in St. Louis over euthanized pets being “rendered” into various usable bits, including, with some irony, pet food.<\/p>\n

Of course, for all the knee-jerk reaction, the animals being so treated are those put down at local shelters for lack of anyone to care for them. All those pet owners, thinking of Foofie ending up as a bit of Alpo, aren’t thinking this through.<\/p>\n

Hoping to free themselves from the public-relations fiasco, the rendering plant announced just before Christmas that it would stop accepting euthanized dogs and cats.
\nBut the local animal shelters couldn’t stop euthanizing. And so in counties and small towns throughout the region, animal carcasses began to pile up.
\n“We were taken flat-footed,” said Chris Byrne, an animal control official in St. Louis County.
\nEvery solution was pricey. Hauling the animals to the nearest industrial-scale crematory would cost the county more than $57,000 a year. Building a crematory would cost up to $100,000. And there would be the contentious question of where to put it.
\nIn the short term, with freezer space limited, the county has been forced to send its dead dogs and cats to a landfill. The city of St. Louis has taken the same route, arranging for a refrigerated trash truck to pick up the carcasses.
\nThis makeshift solution has prompted still more concerns. If the landfills are not properly lined, the decaying corpses could leach into ground water. If they’re not promptly covered, scavengers can pick off the dead dogs and cats. And, as some have pointed out, chucking Fido in a dump scarcely seems a more dignified end than cooking him in a vat with dead cows.<\/p>\n

Okay, let me say this carefully and calmly:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. These are unwanted<\/i> animals. Roving bands of renderers are not climbing into your backyard and stealing Foofie. These are strays, abandoned animals, who have not been claimed by their erstwhile owners. Tragic. But unless we’re going to build Club Foofie for all the unwanted strays (paid for by Your Tax Dollars), there are<\/i> going to be carcasses, and they do<\/i> have to be disposed of. LA City and County have to deal with 120,000 animals every year.\n
  2. These are animals. And they’re dead. They really don’t care whether they are buried on a clifftop overlooking the sea with a beautifully carved marble headstone saying, “Beloved Foofie. Fetch, boy!”, or whether they are dumped into a vat. Heck, I<\/i> don’t expect I’ll care where my<\/i> carcass is tossed afterwards — I expect to have more important things on my mind. Or nothing at all.<\/p>\n
  3. If you are not among those who have spayed or neutered your pets, you don’t deserve a voice in this debate. Go away.<\/ol>\n

    (Via Captain Rooba<\/a>)<\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Okay, so that’s the headline everyone’s using. Get over it. Huge uproar in St. Louis over euthanized pets being “rendered” into various usable bits, including, with some irony, pet food….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[34,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1424","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pets","category-zt-pc"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":15243,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2009\/07\/19\/the-last-shelter.html","url_meta":{"origin":1424,"position":0},"title":"The Last Shelter","author":"***Dave","date":"Sun 19-Jul-09 1:47pm","format":false,"excerpt":"A lot of animals are brought through the Denver Dumb Friends League's door. In their 2008 annual report, the DFL shows that 12,000 cats, 14,000 dogs, and 2,000 other animals were received. Of that 28,000 animals, about 16,500 were adopted. Another 3,000 (mostly dogs)\u00a0were reunited with their owners, who had\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blogathon"","block_context":{"text":"Blogathon","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/blogathon"},"img":{"alt_text":"blogathon2009-mdm","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/07\/blogathon2009-mdm.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":15155,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2009\/07\/09\/blogathon-2009-blogging-for-the-denver-dumb-friends-league.html","url_meta":{"origin":1424,"position":1},"title":"Blogathon 2009 – Blogging for the Denver Dumb Friends League","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 9-Jul-09 6:45am","format":false,"excerpt":"The Denver Dumb Friends League was founded in 1910, and is the largest animal shelter and animal welfare organization in Denver and the Rocky Mountain region. Its mission is simple: The\u00a0DFL is committed to the welfare of animals: We shall provide shelter and care for animals We shall provide programs\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blogathon"","block_context":{"text":"Blogathon","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/blogathon"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/07\/dumb-friends-league.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":25038,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/01\/03\/a-pet-infographic.html","url_meta":{"origin":1424,"position":2},"title":"A Pet Infographic","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 3-Jan-12 2:15pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Some remarkable numbers on American pet ownership, the money involved -- and the animal lives lost anyway. Spay and neuter your pets, people. And unless you're a professional dog show person, please consider getting your next cat or dog at a local shelter. #ddtb","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":32312,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2013\/01\/24\/are-cats-evil.html","url_meta":{"origin":1424,"position":3},"title":"Are Cats Evil?","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 24-Jan-13 9:09am","format":false,"excerpt":"Hmmmm.\u00a0Well, regardless, our cats are from shelters, are spayed, and are indoor animals, so at least we're not contributing to the problem. Embedded Link Why New Zealand Is Right To Consider Banning Cats You know what animal makes a good pet? No animal. Dogs will bite you to death and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2084,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2002\/03\/15\/friday_five_5.html","url_meta":{"origin":1424,"position":4},"title":"Friday Five!","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 15-Mar-02 9:07pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Yes, it's that time again. 1. What's your favorite animal? There are quite a number of animals -- but I'd have to say my \"favorite\" (as I think about it)...","rel":"","context":"In "Personal Q&A"","block_context":{"text":"Personal Q&A","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/personal\/personal-qa"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pic2.picturetrail.com\/VOL7\/75077\/410992\/4155500.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":15389,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2009\/07\/26\/bt09-some-quotations-about-animals-blogathon.html","url_meta":{"origin":1424,"position":5},"title":"BT09 – Some quotations about animals (#Blogathon)","author":"***Dave","date":"Sun 26-Jul-09 12:27am","format":false,"excerpt":"Well, I haven't blogged much about the cause I'm Blogathonning for, the Denver Dumb Friends League. I did a fair amount of talking about\u00a0it in the days leading up the the 'Thon, though. While I take a quick Sunday morning shower and change into another Blogathon shirt, here are a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blogathon"","block_context":{"text":"Blogathon","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/blogathon"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1424","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1424"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1424\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1424"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1424"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1424"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}