It is that time of year again - Please keep an eye out

It's that time of year again
Especially in university towns and cities ....
(mid April until the end of May seem to be the worst here)

It is time when university students and others will start to move and leave unwanted pets behind in empty apartments, abandoned outdoors and thrown into dumpsters still trapped in their cages ....

Kittens, puppies, rabbits, and smaller animals such as hamsters, mice, rats, gerbils, degus etc

Please keep an eye out for pets abandoned or thrown alive into dumpsters ...
Little ones can not climb out, especially if they are trapped in cages ...
The garbage men try to do what they can but they have limited time and can't find them all.
Please help save some little lives

Its so sad that people do this. Will definitely be keeping a look out, as this is a big university town.

Oh my god.... that happens?!
I've always heard the crazy story of finding a puppy in a bag in the trash, but I didn't know it's an annual tradition!!!

Oh gosh. I'll be sure to glance an extra long time driving by dumpsters- I live next to a campus.

Also, if you are up for it, looking through dumpsters before garbage pick up may help to find dumped pets ....
Little ones can not climb out ... especially if they are trapped in cages.

Unfortunately it really happens

this is such a regular thing, I don't know why universities don't have a no pet policy. I guess it would be hard to enforce for those who live off campus, but still.......

they could do a lot by putting rules in place that anyone caught dumping a pet gets kicked out of school or fined or something (prosecuted would be nice, for abandonment, but I dont' know if that ever happens- it doesn't seem to ever happen here)

there's a rescue on the seacoast in NH specifically because so many people get a summer place get a kitten or cat, and then leave it behind at the end of the season
:rant:

my cat Sheldon was abandoned this way. :redhot:

thanks for getting the word out SQ
it's really pathetic & infuriating that it's needed, but it is

Just a bump to remind people, as huge numbers of univ students (and others) will be moving within the next month in many proviences.

A former landlord told me it was a very common occurrence during this time of the year. He also said young military men are also prone to leave pets behind with they get transferred. Interestingly, two male rats were found abandoned and one of my landlord's workers took them home overnight with the intention of bringing them to the SPCA the following morning but was smitten by them and kept the boys. He even contacted me asking how to care for rats, who was a good rat vet in the area, and what kind of cage I would recommend (they were found in a hamster cage).

How sad, but a good outcome on those boys at least. Ya even my newest addition to my group was basically given up by a college student, but mostly cause his girlfriend told him to get rid of him. There were others at the same shelter though that were left in a cage at another building next to their shelter one of the volunteers told me. Ya they put their rats in a small hand made cage at a grocery store NEXT to the shelter with a note saying "Please take care of my rats". They were too lazy to bring them to the shelter and just left them at the grocery store next to them. Luckily one of the store employees who works alongside the volunteers took them in quickly. They were overheated and thirty, was really sad, but as i could see, they were all healthy and happy and waiting for new homes.

OMG! Thank you for posting this. In fact, I just overheard a woman yesterday telling her friend how her son moved into an apartment to find a cat had been left there. There was no food, only some old dirty water, and the place was a mess. Fortunately, her son was the compassionate type and cared for the cat a while, until his mother took the cat in.

It just broke my heart to hear that someone could do that... just leave an animal behind like that. Abandoned and trapped.

I'm not sure where I want to spend my energies first on this issue. I will DEFINITELY be looking into dumpsters. BUT I also want to make sure that these people leaving animals behind will be prosecuted too. This is wholly unacceptable!

I found kittens in my dumpster at my apartment building when I lived in New London (Navy and college town..yeah) . People do it all the time.

I don't know if it is an issue at my school as there is a no-pets policy for those on campus, but maybe I can see if I can get approval to put up flyers suggesting people use shelters before dumping pets...