History Main / DrowningUnwantedPets

-->-- ''Literature/{{Stray}}''

** In ''Literature/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.

* ''Literature/TheWitches'': This fate is used as a threat when a hotel maid discovers the hero boy's pet mice. The manager orders him to keep the mice in the cage, and the maid keeps trying to catch him with the mice out, telling him that the first mouse to break the rule will be drowned. Later, when Bruno is given back to his horrified parents in mouse form, the hero and his grandmother wonder sadly whether Bruno suffered this fate.

* A variant appears in ''Literature/WutheringHeights'' when the 7-year-old Hareton hangs a litter of puppies. This is evidence of [[VillainProtagonist Heathcliff's]] efforts to corrupt the boy to be [[GenerationXerox just like him.]]

* In one issue of ''ComicBook/TheSandman'', a cat had the illusion that humans were the pets of cats painfully torn away from her when her human drowned her kittens.

** ''Literature/{{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.

* 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.

* {{Averted| Trope}} towards the beginning of the first ''WesternAnimation/PeterNoTail'' movie. The farm's cruel owner demands that the kindly farmer get rid of Peter (who at this point is a kitten). We then see the farmer reluctantly carrying Peter in his jacket towards a full rain barrel, but a vacationer heading home drives up in his car to return the keys before he can go through with it. During the conversation that follows, the farmer smuggles Peter into the car.

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* This was (and is, in some regions) a pretty common practice before the idea of spaying or neutering pets.

* In one issue of ''ComicBook/TheSandman'' a cat had the illusion that humans were the pets of cats painfully torn away from her when her human drowned her kittens.

[[quoteright:350:[[ComicBook/BeastsOfBurden https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/blogmppbeastsofburdensplash.jpg]]]]

It was relatively common to drown unwanted, usually young, pets. This has fallen out of practice in exchange for better pregnancy preventative measures (namely, spaying and neutering pets) and giving pets up to shelters if you can't home them, but the practice still persists in some more rural, poor or areas where cruelty to animals isn't frowned upon or legally condemned. There's a lot of ValuesDissonance to this and it's usually PlayedForDrama or sadness. It might also be a KickTheDog moment, a sign of BadPeopleAbuseAnimals.

It was relatively common to drown unwanted, usually young, pets. This has fallen out of practice in exchange for better pregnancy preventative measures (namely, spaying and neutering pets) and giving pets up to shelters if you can't home them, but the practice still persists in some more rural, poor or truly evil areas. There's a lot of ValuesDissonance to this and it's usually PlayedForDrama or sadness. It might also be a KickTheDog moment, a sign of BadPeopleAbuseAnimals.

* 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.

** In a more heartbreaking example, in ''Rilla of Ingleside,'' the youngest Meredith sibling drowns his beloved kitten, hoping his personal sacrifice will bring Jem Blythe, who is MIA overseas in World War I, home safely.

** In a more heartbreaking example, in ''Rilla of Ingleside,'' the youngest Meredith sibling drowns his beloved kitten, hoping his personal sacrifice will Jem Blythe, who is MIA overseas in World War I, home safely.

* In one issue of ''ComicBook/BeastsOfBurden'', the ghosts of drowned puppies come back and drown the man who killed them.

Once upon a time, it was relatively common to drown unwanted, usually young, pets. This has fallen out of practice in exchange for better pregnancy preventative measures (namely, spaying and neutering pets) and giving pets up to shelters if you can't home them, but the practice still persists in some more rural or poor areas. There's a lot of ValuesDissonance to this and it's usually PlayedForDrama or sadness. It might also be a KickTheDog moment, a sign of BadPeopleAbuseAnimals.

* 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. [[spoiler:The main character's boyfriend takes it, and the main character adopts it.]]

[[quoteright:350:[[ComicBook/BeastsOBurden https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/blogmppbeastsofburdensplash.jpg]]]]

[[quoteright:350:[[WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/heavenly_puss.jpg]]]]