History Main / DrowningUnwantedPets

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** ''Discworld/{{Mort}}'': As part of teaching Mort the duties of Death, Death takes him to Ankh-Morpork, where they find a sack of kittens in the river Ankh. Death, a KindheartedCatLover, is very unhappy about this.
** In ''Discworld/MovingPictures'', [[TalkingAnimal Gaspode the Wonder Dog]] says his first memory is being tied in a sack next to a brick by his former owners. The only reason he survived at all is that the water in the Ankh river is so dirty one can't drown in it. The Ankh is so polluted and overgrown he was able to ''walk'' back to shore. He recalls he thought the brick was his mother.

* In ''Fed Up'' by Jessica Conant-Park and Susan Conant, a man asks passers-by on the street if they'll take his ex-girlfriend's neglected cat. Otherwise, he threatens to throw it in the river. [[The main character's boyfriend takes it, and the main character adopts it.]]

* Mentioned in ''Disney/OneHundredAndOneDalmatians'' by Cruella [=DeVil=] in a fit of pique. When Roger refuses to sell Perdita's puppies to her, Cruella tears up her bank cheque, and fumes at Roger.

** The 1954 cartoon ''Puppy Tale'' begins with a motorcar driving over a bridge, then tossing a sack into the creek. Jerry Mouse is nearby, and he fishes the sack out of the water with a branch. Five puppies emerge from the sack, and one especially grateful pup shadows Jerry thereafter.

** In the episode ''Heavenly Puss'', there's a shot where a soggy bag begins bouncing and Fluff, Muff, and Puff (who would later appear in ''Triplet Trouble'') emerged from the bag. That's one, [[ParentalBonus kids wouldn't figure out]].

Saving a drowning pet is a convenient way to introduce a character. It might also lead to a friendship or RescueRomance.

* Natsumi from ''VisualNovel/HigurashiWhenTheyCry'' is horrified that her grandmother drowns puppies in the tub as a part of a religious ritual.
* Nanami in the anime of ''Anime/RevolutionaryGirlUtena'' drowns her brother's kitten because she was jealous that he paid attention to it instead of her. She was a small child and ''may'' have regretted the action after seeing the kitten swept away.

* This is the origin of ''ComicBook/GreenLantern'' villain Dex-Starr. Being the victim of an attempted version of this ([[ForTheEvulz just for fun]], no less) ended up being the [[RageBreakingPoint final straw]] (after a TraumaCongaLine that included his litter being abandoned as a kitten, his adopted owner being murdered, and being left homeless) for a cat named Dexter, filling him with so much anger that it drew the attention of a Red Lantern Power Ring, turning him into Dex-Starr.
* In one issue of ''ComicBook/BeastsOfBurden'', the ghosts of drowned puppies come back and drown the man who killed them.

[[folder:Films -- Animation]]
* Happens to the title dog in ''WesternAnimation/RoverDangerfield'' by his owner's boyfriend after ruining an shady deal for him. He ends up being rescued downstream before he can die.
* Linguini from ''WesternAnimation/{{Ratatouille}}'' has the talented rat Remy in a jar, and is about to throw it in the Seine. Ultimately, Linguini relents, and takes Remy home as a housepet.

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]

* ''Film/SongOfTheSouth'' has a plot line where a couple of bullies want to drown a puppy for fun, even after their sister gave it to the neighbor.
* In ''[[Film/{{Beethoven}} Beethoven's 2nd]]'', when Beethoven's mate Missy has a litter of puppies, her owner's ex-wife [[RichBitch Regina]] -- who has temporary custody of her as part of the divorce battle -- initially wants to have them drowned. She does change her mind, but only when it's pointed out to her that they're purebreds and worth a lot of money.

* Aunt Marge from ''Literature/HarryPotterAndThePrisonerOfAzkaban'' is an amateur bulldog breeder, and in one conversation with the Dursleys, mentions getting her neighbour Colonel Fubster to drown the runt of her latest litter.
* Mentioned in the fourth ''Literature/TheQueensThief'' book as part of DeliberateValuesDissonance (and tying into one of the story's {{Central Theme}}s). Berrone once convinced her father, Baron Hanaktos, to ban the drowning of kittens. The city subsequently became overrun with strays until the citizens got fed up and went on a cat-slaughtering spree.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

-->'''Gatekeeper''': "What some people won't do."

* The WesternAnimation/PlutoThePup cartoon ''WesternAnimation/LendAPaw'' begins with him rescuing a kitten that's in a sack tied to a weight floating in an ice floe.
* Referenced in ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'': Hermes hates Leela's pet Nibbler so much he wants to put him in a sack, throw the sack in a river [[NoKillLikeOverkill and hurl the river into space]].
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheCatCameBack'', Mr. Johnson's second attempt to get rid of the cat is to go to the middle of a lake and dump the cat inside a sack tied to an anchor. As he tries to drop the anchor, however, he breaks through the bottom of the boat, which takes the cat safely to shore. At the bottom, Mr. Johnson is surrounded by dozens of sacks tied to anchors.

** ''ComicBook/WarriorCatsTheRiseOfScourge'': As a kitten, Scourge's bully siblings told him that longpaws throw unwanted kittens into rivers. Scourge, then known as "Tiny", was so scared that he [[APetIntoTheWild ran away from home]], which ultimately led to his StartOfDarkness.

* Being the victim of an attempted version of this ([[ForTheEvulz just for fun]], no less) ended up being the [[RageBreakingPoint final straw]] (after a TraumaCongaLine that included his litter being abandoned as a kitten, his adopted owner being murdered, and being left homeless) for [[Franchise/GreenLantern a cat named Dexter]], filling him with so much anger that it drew the attention of a Red Lantern Power Ring, turning him into Dex-Starr.

* Discussed in ''[[Literature/AnneOfGreenGables Anne of the Island]]'', where in a FairForItsDay chapter Anne, Priscilla and Phil try to kill an unwanted stray cat that has wandered into the house by a more humane method of chloroforming it. By a mistake of theirs, the cat survives, and Anne has a change of heart and adopts it, however, Aunt Jamesina concludes the matter with:

* ''The Song of a Dog'', a TearJerker poem by Sergei Yesenin, recounts the story of a dog whose entire litter gets drowned before her eyes.

* Linguini from ''WesternAnimation/{{Ratatouille}}'' has the talented rat Remy in a cage, and begins to submerge the cage in the Seine. Remy scrambles desperately toward the last bit of space above the waterline. Ultimately, Linguini relents, and takes Remy home as a housepet.

-->''Gatekeeper'': "What some people won't do."

[[folder:Films -- Live Action]]

->''My mother must have had decent human minders. They had let her give birth to us. They had not drowned us as so many people drown kittens; and, as I say, they left us in peace.''
-->--''Literature/{{Stray}}''

[[AC: {{Anime}} & {{Manga}}]]

[[AC: ComicBooks]]

[[AC: {{Film}}s -- Animation]]

--> '''Cruella''': All right, keep the little beasts for all I care! Do as you like with them! Drown them!

[[AC: {{Film}}s -- Live Action]]

* Film/SongOfTheSouth has a plot line where a couple of bullies want to drown a puppy for fun, even after their sister gave it to the neighbor.

[[AC: Jokes]]

-->A priest sees a little girl crying in the road and goes to her.
-->"What's wrong, my child?"
-->"Our dog had puppies and my mother said she's going to drown them!"
-->"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. But those puppies will be in heaven soon."
-->"I don't care about that, I wanted to drown them myself!!!"

[[AC: {{Literature}}]]

-->Kittens HAVE to be drowned, I admit, or the world would be overrun. But no decent, grown-up cat should be done to death unless he sucks eggs.

** ''{{Discworld/Mort}}'': As part of teaching Mort the duties of Death, Death takes him to Ankh-Morpork, where they find a sack of kittens in the river Ankh. Death, a KindheartedCatLover, is very unhappy about this.

[[AC: {{Music}}]]

[[AC:Stand-Up comedy]]
* Dutch comedian Herman Finkers used this trope for a joke in which he recalled how, as a child, he asked his mom if his own birth was the same as how their dog got puppies, including questions like "were my eyes also still closed, and did dad immediately drown all of my siblings?".

[[AC: VideoGames]]

[[AC: {{Webcomics}}]]

[[AC: WesternAnimation]]

[[AC: RealLife]]

** The 1954 cartoon ''WesternAnimation/PuppyTale'' begins with a motorcar driving over a bridge, then tossing a sack into the creek. Jerry Mouse is nearby, and he fishes the sack out of the water with a branch. Five puppies emerge from the sack, and one especially grateful pup shadows Jerry thereafter.

* Dutch comedian Herman Finkers used this trope for a joke in which he recalled how, as a child, he asked his mom if his own birth was the same as how their dog got puppies, including questions like "where my eyes also still closed, and did dad immediately drown all of my siblings?".

* In ''Disney/OliverAndCompany'', the title character is left in the cardboard box from where his brothers and sisters were sold, finally being offered as "Free." However, a near-by storm gutter empties into the box and he only survives because the box falls apart.

* Leo from ''Literature/GuardianCatsAndTheLostBooksOfAlexandria'' is traumatized because his [[AbusiveParents abusive father]] told his mother to drown a stray cat he was taking care of as a child. He has a phobia of cats and has nightmares about cats trying to drown him.

* Discussed in ''[[Literature/AnneOfGreenGables Anne of the Island]]'', where in a FairForItsDay chapter Anne, Priscilla and Phil try to kill an unwanted stray cat that has wandered into the house by a more humane method of chloroforming it. By a mistake of theirs, the cat survives, and Anne has a change of heart and adopts it, however, Aunt Jamesina concludes the matter with:
-->Kittens HAVE to be drowned, I admit, or the world would be overrun. But no decent, grown-up cat should be done to death unless he sucks eggs.

* "[[Literature/StrangeHighways Kittens]]" by Creator/DeanKoontz has a girl learning what actually happens to the kittens her parents insist are taken to Heaven. [[spoiler:So, she drowns her infant siblings in revenge.]]
* [[UsefulNotes/RussianReading Ivan Turgenev's short story "Mumu"]] is titled after a dog whom a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serfdom_in_Russia serf]] named Gerasim adopts and bonds with, before being forced to drown her by his cruel owner.
* ''[[Literature/FelineWizards The Book of Night With Moon]]'': One of the main characters is the SoleSurvivor of a bag of drowned kittens, which gave him some serious PTSD issues. 
* ''Literature/TheHungerGames'': Prim's cat, Buttercup, despises Katniss because she attempted to drown it so she didn't have a third mouth to feed.
* ''Literature/TheHundredAndOneDalmatians'': Similar to the film, Cruella advocates drowning the puppies, although in this case, she believed they were mongrels due to them being born without spots. She also admits that she's drowned dozens of her cat's kittens.

* In 2007, John Wooligan, 47, of Whitehaven, Cumbria, in the UnitedKingdom, [[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1555068/Drowning-of-puppies-not-cruel-court-rules.html was acquitted]] of animal cruelty after the court ruled drowning 10-day-old puppies wasn't cruel since they didn't feel pain.