Footloose and (Fancy?) Free

Abandoned Toys is going slightly off-topic today to explore a disturbing development in the Slope: abandoned kids' shoes.  Consider the following examples:

Tragic - it looks like they are attempting to walk back through the gate; one last sad attempt to be reunited with their owner...

Ice cold treatment indeed...

Were the magazines included to entice onlookers to also consider the shoes, or vice versa?

Velcro and Crocs - free and orthopedic!

Who doesn't love a good flop?

Note the common theme: with the exception of the first photo, exceptional care and attention has been placed into displaying the shoes.  Perhaps shoe abandonment is not as tragic as I first thought - these shoes may get a second chance after all!  The more I think about it, what's really alarming about these photos is the implication that countless kids are running wild with bare feet - I foresee an explosion of planter warts and athlete's foot in the neighborhood... Gross.