Animals left behind by students

To all students here at Kenyon,

You are down to your last days. Time to close the books and put down the pencils; time to say goodbye to your classmates, roommates, teachers, coaches and friends all over campus. It is time for taking pictures, getting addresses, phone numbers and e-mail addresses and parting for the last time. After graduation, some of you will go home and do nothing; some will go on to other schools, some may travel and some may work all summer.

But before you close the books and the door behind you for the summer, I think you have one thing to do. Say goodbye to your animal friends, be they cats or dogs that you have had since the start of the school year. Now that school is almost over, have you thought about what will happen to them at all? Do you know where they are going? Do you have someone who is going to take care of them? It isn't the animals' fault that they are left behind; it's the fault of the students who take the animals in. They should take care of the animals before they go home and not just dump the animal out. This is called animal cruelty. Last year, at the beginning of fall, I had ten cats spayed and neutered at no cost to the students. It was out of my pocket and cost $180.

We all took turns feeding them, giving them water and keeping them safe and warm all winter, no thanks to you students. A lot of us took money out of our pockets to feed them. All of them have homes, no thanks to students, and the lady from the Bookstore helped as well.

This is a big, big, big problem at the College, and it needs to be addressed. If you are missing a pet from home, you can go online and look up petfinder.com.

AVI Employee

Viola M. Scott