why did people used to drown there pets when they didnt want them?

Question

i was reading a book and i also heard of other people who did that, proble in the greate depression or earlier. they would usually kill the pets after they mother had baby's and they didnt want all the kiddies. any one know why they didnt just shoot or stab the kiddies or even sell the kiddies?

Answer 1

It wasn't just individuals who would drown the animals. Before there were animal cruelty laws enacted, law enforcment would gather all the strays and place them in an enormous cage filled with dozens of animals and hook it to a crane lowering it into the rivers off the docks. When I attended a seminar a couple of years ago the pictures were shown on the big screen. Pictures I'll never forget.

Thank goodness we can now prosecute them...if we catch them. I would like to do the same to the people, however...

Answer 2

I understand this was done as an act of kindness to the animal so that it didn't go hungry or become a nusiance. I assume someone felt like it was more human to drown them than to stab them and if money was a problem shells are quite expensive. Responsible pet owners for a small fee can have their pet spade which is the kindess thing. No matter what kind of animal, they are all part of a wonderful miracle, I would hope all animals would find good homes and all pet owners would be as devoted to their pet as the pet is to them.

Answer 3

It's a lot harder to shoot/stab something to death -- and bleeding to death is slower than suffocating. That's why it seems more humane. My grandmother, who was born shortly before the great depression, still lived on her farm about 5 years ago, when I got a phone message from her saying that she had drowned the kittens. She tied a rock around them and put them in a tub of water. It was sad for me to hear, but for her, it is just life/survival. Personally, I have two cats that I'm very attached to, but I know that they can reproduce at exponential rates. Even now there are too many pets and not enough people to adopt them. That is why so many are euthanized at humane societies. Get your pets NEUTERED OR SPAYED!

Answer 4

Used to?? Sorry... this still happens. People do all sorts of cruel things to animals they don't want. Drown 'em, shoot 'em, dump them in the woods somewhere... the list goes on.

It's sad. Way back when, I would say it's largely because spay/neuter wasn't an option (some towns didn't even have doctors, much less vets!)... but since it still happens... clearly a lot of it is just that some people have very little respect for life.

Answer 5

I don't think they should have done anything to the kittens. Those who did couldn't have shot them, for during the Great Depression people couldn't afford guns. Many may not have wanted to stab them because of the blood and because they might have thought drowning them was easier. During those times, you couldn't just put an add in the paper saying free kittens, so I think that's why. It's an inhuman, sad thing but that's reality. So many sick people don't care about animals and those people have issues too!

Answer 6

It was an easy way to get rid of them. in the depression people didn't have the money to buy and feed pets. People felt that drowning pets was better then letting them loose so they could starve to death

Answer 7

beacuse they are idiots and they are sick! havent they ever heard of an animal shelter? yes some are full but i bet they could have found one that could spare some room!

Answer 8

drowning was quick, easy and humane way of disposing of the offspring

Answer 9

it is still more common then you realize

Answer 10

to count the bubbles