East Lyme-Area Residents: 'Please Do Not Feed the Dogs'

Post from Waterford-East Lyme Animal Control:

PLEASE DO NOT FEED THE DOGS. Today I came into work to discover someone had been tossing slices of bread to the dogs, attempting to get past two fences and feed the dogs.

I know it was two loaves of bread because most of it was lying about the exterior of the kennels and the person then left the two plastic bags lying on the ground instead of putting it in the dumpster that is right there next to the building.

In the past I have found other items people have attempted to feed the dogs such as chicken nuggets, meatballs, hamburgers, chicken wings, dog food, dog treats, lunch meat, and even candy.

PLEASE DO NOT FEED THE DOGS. The dogs are fed every day, even on the weekends when we don’t have regular business hours.

When people throw food at the dogs in an attempt to feed them several things happen. Most of it does not get to the dogs and sits on the ground just out of reach, causing the dogs great stress as they try to get at it.

It also attracts insects and vermin. Secondly the food that gets inside, they eat and that tends to give them diarrhea, which is really fun to clean up in the morning.

So in closing, PLEASE DO NOT FEED THE DOGS at the animal shelter. If you wish to help out you can donate some bags of dry dog food for them, but rest assured they are not going hungry and are very well taken care of by myself and the dedicated volunteers here at the shelter.

Photo by This Year’s Love, via flickr creative commons