In an age where many pets have their very own Instagram feeds, it can be easy for some people to forget a very basic concept: animals are not accessories.
Domesticated animals require your time, they require your attention, and they require safe and clean living conditions — and if you are physically or financially unable to provide these, then taking an animal into your home can easily become a more selfish than selfless act.
A recent video clip of a woman pulling over in a San Antonio, TX subdivision to abandon her four dogs has gone viral, and people are infuriated by the (former) pet owner’s conscious negligence.
One of the neighborhood residents saw a woman in a silver Honda pull into a nearby cul-de-sac one morning and noticed that she was trying to coax four uneasy dogs from her vehicle. The concerned resident began filming the incident as she tried to reason with the woman.
In the video, the resident can be heard telling the woman that the dogs should be taken to the nearest Animal Care Shelter, and the resident even gives the pet-owner directions to the facility.
“Because I’m tired of people dropping off and abandoning dogs,” says the woman filming. “I foster for Animal Care Services and I’m the one who has to take time from my children to help people who don’t want to be responsible for their pets.”
In the video, the pet-owner appears to be listening, but doesn’t respond to the woman’s pleas to take the dogs to a shelter. Once the last frightened dog is pulled from the vehicle, the car pulls away and someone in the back seat flips off the woman on the sidewalk.
“And now there’s more dogs and they don’t know what to do,” sighs the woman behind the camera. “They just get rid of their dogs.”
The helpful resident called 311 shortly thereafter and ACS officers arrived to rescue three of the dogs. The fourth dog was later found in the woods nearby and was also taken to the shelter.
“So many people were outraged by what they saw and wanted to help,” Lisa Norwood, an ACS spokeswoman, told My San Antonio. “It started going around San Antonio, around Texas, we had so many offers for assistance.”
Over the weekend, two of the abandoned pups were adopted.
The names of the individuals in the car are currently being withheld as the ACS pursues multiple cruelty charges.