People who stand by and do nothing

Ugh, I am so tired of seeing people who just stand by and do nothing when an animal is in trouble, and then cry about it when the poor animal dies!

What in the world are you crying for now?! Why didn't you do something?!

I have seen it multiple times. People will say things like, "oh, we saw the horses out there with no water and food, the poor things" and then sniffle and cry when the horse drops dead and they are on the news. Hello, you lazy jerk, give the poor thing some water! How hard is it to fill a bucket with some water and give it to the horse?

I saw a horse collapse from heat exhaustion on the local news one year and there were three people standing around and going "poor horsey, poor horsey" on the news, saying they lived right next door and has watched the "poor guy suffer for days". What?! Why in heaven's name didn't you give the thing some water? What possible excuse do you have for not getting some kind of big bowl or bucket or an empty cooler, filling it with some water from your hose which is right over there in the background and putting it within reach of the horse!

I can't get mad at people who didn't know anything. If the horse or whatever is hidden in the back, not visible from the road or the person's yard, I cannot blame them. Sometimes you just have to expect people to take responsibility for their own animals. But if you know your neighbor has a horse who is skinny and has no water, why in the world can't you call Animal Control and give the poor beast a drink? That one or two buckets of water might save that horse's life! And it is not like it is going to cost you that much!

There was some recent thing where this poor mare had to be put down due to severe neglect. The neighbors gave the owner some hay after Animal Control showed up. Why in the world did you even bother? Why didn't you give it to that poor mare a few days ago! She might have lived! Well, we will never know now because you only did it when there were others hanging around to be awed by your "generous" nature!

Here's a clue, helping an animal isn't about who sees you and who knows you did it! It should be about the animal!

And no, I am not a hypocrite. I have helped animals I saw in trouble for no reason other than I could. I have given a hot dog water even when the neighbor yelled at me about it. I feed stray cats. I once climbed into a field to untangle a horse from a rope that was wrapped around his neck and leg. More than once I've had the owner yell at me and call me names for doing something like that, saying it was none of my business.

Well, I'm sorry but it was because that animal needed help and you, the owner, was not going to do it. I do not interfere with people training, how many animals they have, or anything like that. I would never just remove a dog's collar or a horse's halter because they might be difficult to catch, etc. But if I see a horse choking because it has its halter caught on something or an animal panting with thirst, I am going to do something if I can.

And if you're not going to, then do not dare cry and pretend to be so sad and sorry for the animal. You could have done something to help them, but didn't. So shut up and quit trying to get attention. No one cares about your "suffering" or "how bad you feel". We care about that animal that died because you were too lazy or selfish to do something to stop it.