Last Thursday, I found 2 dogs running around in a park with no owners. I asked everyone in the park if the dogs were theirs, and everyone said no. The dogs had collars but no tags. It was night, so I decided to take the dogs home with me until I could locate their owners. (I didn't want to turn them in to the pound, as the pound in this city euthanizes dogs willy-nilly and does not respect the stray-hold period at all.)
I took the dogs home. Meanwhile, I put up tons of posters in the area where I found them, and repeatedly called the pound to see if anyone had reported lost dogs like the ones I had. They kept telling me no.
Just yesterday, I got a call from a woman who said she knew the dogs belonged to her neighbors. The woman told me that her neighbors didn't take very good care of their dogs, and that the dogs had escaped many times before, and that the owners probably wouldn't even want them back. She then put me in touch with her neighbors, the owners.
The owners said the dogs escaped because they had gaps in their backyard fence, but they would have to get a permit to build a new one, and basically, they didn't feel like it right now. I asked why their dogs didn't have tags, and they couldn't give me a straight answer. I asked why they didn't report the dogs missing to the pound, and they said that they did call the pound one time an hour after the dogs went missing, but the pound said their dogs weren't there, and apparently they didn't bother calling again. (I also found out that they had also had another dog who went missing and was never found.)
I told them that as a condition of returning the dogs to them, I wanted to purchase tags for the dogs, and also have the dogs fixed. I told them I would pay for it all. They flatly refused, but did say they would buy their own tags for the dogs. They refused to have the dogs fixed. I begged them to consider it, and tried to explain how easy it would be for their female dog to get pregnant with the amount of running away she does. They refused.
After two nights of caring for the dogs, the dogs escaped from my yard through a small gap in the fence. I later found out that someone found them and turned them over to our local vet. I have not yet been in touch with the vet about it, because I didn't find out they were there until after Labor Day weekend began, so they are still there now.
Today, I decided to risk a lie to the pet's owners in hopes of protecting their dogs and other dogs. I told them that the vet required their dogs to be spayed or neutered before they could be released. I also said that the vet would be willing to do it for free. (My actual plan was to have the dogs fixed myself and pay for it.) The owners not only refused, but also said that if the dogs got altered, they didn't want the dogs back. They said, "You just keep them." When I said I could not keep them, they said, "Then do whatever you want with them." When I told them that that would mean the pound and, very likely, death for their dogs, they said, "Well, we don't want them back if they are altered."
I then called back and said, "The vet might be willing to release the dogs to you if you make an appointment to get them fixed yourself." Their response was "No, we don't have time for any of that." End of conversation.
I wanted to mention that the dogs are not purebred dogs by any means, so there does not appear to be any good reason why they should not be neutered. Also, when I originally asked the owners if they wanted their dogs back, they said yes, and that they missed them. But their behavior does not seem utterly consistent with that.
I was thinking of reporting the owners to a government agency such as the police or Animal Control. Among other things, their dogs were not wearing rabies tags or a dog license, which are legally required to be worn in their city. But it seems there is some possibility that these people are illegal immigrants, and I wouldn't want to be responsible for getting them deported.
All this has been almost devastatingly stressful. I know I must give the dogs back, and that I don't have a right to force the owners to neuter them, but I hate to see these good dogs go back to such a precarious situation. As I said, the pound in their city euthanizes dogs almost immediately--sometimes even dogs with micro-chips!--and it seems certain that they will end up there soon. I just don't have the heart to send them back to that situation.
I am considering getting them implanted with microchips without telling the owners, and then giving them back. But it still makes me really worried.
My dear, wise Philosophy girls--What would you do??
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