It's not nice to dump kittens in a garbage can.

But that's just where Kathleen Ross, animal-control officer for Rome, Belgrade, Mercer, Norridgewock, Sidney and Oakland found several little cats abandoned this year. She's also found them dumped by the side of the road. At the Humane Society-Waterville Area shelter, animals have been left in boxes just beside the front door.

While abandoned animals are nothing new -- Humane Society President Richard Willette has seen it happen over the last 30 years -- the numbers of animals dumped by their owners is rising, Willette says. This year, the society has seen a 6 percent to 8 percent increase in the number of animals they've had deposited at the shelter.

Willette says elderly owners are bringing in their animals because they're financially stressed. They can't afford food for themselves, let alone their animals.

The same may be true for others, as well, and that's a terrible thing. But other folks simply don't take the lives of animals as seriously as they should -- witness the dumping of kittens in a garbage can or on the side of the road. We don't know what drives people to treat animals so cruelly, but it's despicable, whatever it is. And avoidable, because anyone who can't take care of kittens should not own an unspayed cat.