Maine Ranks #1 In Laws To Protect All Its Creatures Great & Small

Until recently, I'd never had a pet in my whole life. Well, not in my adulthood. Maybe I dated some women with cats, but that's about it. We did have cats when I was a kid, but they weren't mine or my responsibility. But now that I have a dog, I can't imagine for the life of me why I waited so long to do so.

But really, the reason is something I said just a minute ago.... Responsibility. I always felt I was either too busy or whatever, to have a pet. So I never felt right about keeping a pet around if I couldn't care for it appropriately. And not just the food, I mean like being a good pet owner, and spending time with your furry muchachos and muchachas.

Sadly, some people's idea of responsibility of being good to a pet or animal can be a bit skewed, to say the least. And downright criminal to say the most. There are certainly sad stories of pet hoarders that have far too many animals that they can't possibly care for. Worse, there are people who just straight up neglect animals, or abuse them.

Those are the scourge of the Earth in my opinion. And it would seem all Mainers agree, all the way up to the State level. The Animal Legal Defense Fund says that according to several different criteria, Maine's animal protection laws benefit all of our creatures, wild and domestic, better than any other state in the country.

That isn't too shabby at all. It's very comforting knowing that all our doggos and kittens, and even cows, are well recognized and protected by our state. Rhode Island and Massachusetts were also in the top ten. Wyoming and New Mexico were the last place finishers. I'm glad I don't live in those animal hating states.

It's just another in a long line of things that we can be proud of about Maine. Now... I'm gonna go chill with my dog.