Me being an avid animal lover and owner, it disgusts me when I see stories online of animals being abused or neglected.

USA Today published a story about a man in North Carolina who had charges dropped against him for abandoning his pet fish. He had three counts of misdemeanor animal cruelty charges and one count of misdemeanor abandonment charge against him. However, the charges were dropped because North Carolina law protects dogs, rabbits, baby chicks, fowl and other animals, but not fish specifically.

After being evicted from his home, Sheriff’s Office deputies visited the home and found the fish, an Oscar fish, in “deplorable” conditions. The fish was suffering from hole-in-the-head disease, a parasite caused by poor water quality and malnutrition.

Some of you might think “who cares? It’s just a fish.” Well, I care and you should too because animals and fish should not have to suffer by the hands of humans. I am a dog owner; her name is Leia and she is a 5-month-old Golden Doodle. I could not even imagine abandoning her somewhere because I love her so much. If there was an invasion from an enemy military in the city of Charleston, I would still take my dog with me as I evacuated the city, not abandon her.

There is no way of figuring this out for certain, but there are a lot of stray cats in Charleston, and that could be due to the community abandoning their pets. Treat your animals like they deserve to be treated. Their whole world revolves around loving and caring for you the owner, and some people have the audacity to abuse and/or neglect them.

It is good to see an attempt by local community members to save animals that are abandoned. My friend Alyssa Farley runs a Facebook group called Illinois Saving Grace. According to the group, they advertise for urgent animals in the Chicago-land area that are close to being euthanized and try to find forever homes for them. According to her, they have saved close to 30 animals so far, and that is a serious accomplishment given how new the group is. If you want to help out or are trying to rescue an animal, you can join this group; it is open to the public.

If you cannot afford or do not have the time to take care of your pet, you should not have gotten the pet in the first place. If you do end up in this situation and have no other choice, do not leave it somewhere on the streets. Find a good home for the animal; it will not be that hard through social media. If there are no other options, take the animal to a non-kill shelter. There it can hopefully find owners that will love them and provide them a good home.

Jordan Boyer is a senior history major. He can be reached at 581-2812 or at jtboyer@eiu.edu.