Letter to the Editor

Support those who love animals

I read the Speak Out comment "Humane donations" from someone obviously angry about the Humane Society of Southeast Missouri donations. It not only missed the point in the Southeast Missourian feature story titled "Pathetic dog has his day" that the Humane Society goes to great lengths to help abandoned and injured animals, but that Stacie Foshee encouraged other people to adopt from the Humane Society.

The comment also contained several inaccuracies. The most obvious was that the word "euthanasia" was never mentioned in the original feature story.

As the owners of five dogs and three cats (one of the dogs and all of the cats being either abandoned, feral or unable for the previous owner to keep), my wife and I greatly admire the work of both the Humane Society and Safe Harbor Animal Sanctuary. Both rely heavily on donations, and neither is mutually exclusive. In a perfect world neither would be necessary. If one has chosen one group to fully support and is a true animal lover, why attempt to denigrate another group or groups also helping animals?

I have spoken with Jerry Van Oostrom, and he hopes both organizations can succeed in their important work. He fully supports any group whose objective is to help homeless animals. Jerry and the others at the Humane Society are there because they believe in doing what they can to help the animals.

BRIAN ROGERS, Burfordville, Mo.