Pros And Cons Of Animal Adoption

Many animals throughout the world that go homeless, yet many more die in animal shelters because these facilities become overwhelmed. Humans buy animals from animal shelters and then return them within a matter of time, because they no longer want to take on the responsibility of taking care of them. Most animal shelters have a policy that if the workers can not find a home for the animals within 72 hours from the time they are brought in, they have to euthanize them, or “put them down” (Akita Rescue Mid Atlantic Coast 26-27). Unless the shelters have enough space, or the animal is a breed that a lot of people desire, the end result is to usually put down the animal. Every year, a total of nearly 7.6

In the United States, about 7.6 million companion animals enter animal shelters every year. The overpopulation of these animals and the fact that they have no homes leads to about 40% of them being euthanized (ASPCA). This is a global issue, but the root of it can be found within the local community at The Humane Society of the Ohio Valley.

When Mary Ray of Woodbury, Minnesota unexpectedly passed away at her home during the winter of 2012, the last thing she would have expected was that her beloved perfectly healthy, young pet cat would be euthanized by the Woodbury Humane Society shelter instead of being sent to the home she had detailed in a note posted on her refrigerator. In retrospect, this would not have happened if the Woodbury Humane Society shelter had adopted the new and growing trend of “no-kill” philosophy for animal shelters, which simply stated, is an operating philosophy for a shelter that is based upon the premise that no healthy adoptable animal should be euthanized for any reason and that they should be sheltered until they find a loving home. The number of

Puppy mills, irresponsible pet owners, and backyard breeder, not shelters, are to blame for rates of euthanasia in our communities. Irresponsible pet owners choose to not spay their pets because they think it is too expensive, or they may want to breed their pet. Eventually, puppies that were a product of irresponsible owners in the community will end up at the local animal shelter. They will take shelters spots that were occupied by an adult dog now putting them up for death. Communities are killing companion animals, not the shelters they are blaming. Puppy mills are able to produce ridiculous amounts of puppies because the demand from the community is high for purebred puppies. Puppy mills are in the business of breeding for monetary

Animal shelters provide protection and care to animals in need, but sadly have to kill animals from time to time. Ending an animal’s life with minimal pain is called animal euthanasia. No animal shelters practice euthanasia by choice, but most consider it a necessary system. Some reasons for euthanasia are lack of resources and funding in shelters, but the biggest contributor to why euthanasia exists is overcrowding. This problem can be traced to owners allowing their pets to have multiple litters of kittens or puppies without taking the responsibility to properly give them a home. This carelessness creates a huge domestic overpopulation problem. The consequences of overpopulation results in large numbers of animals being sent to humane societies. Animals are then euthanized to avoid overcrowding. Euthanasia is unethical and cruel; it should be banned from shelters.

According to the The Humane Society of the United States roughly six-million animals are handled by shelters and clinics every year; though, only four million are adopted or claimed . The other two million animals are left in these shelters until they die or are subjected to cruel practices of euthanasia. There are simply too many animals and not enough people who are open to adoption. The animal overpopulation crisis and euthanasia cruelty can be prevented by an approach called animal birth control and adopting.

As stated previously, homeless animals in America do not have enough loving homes to go around. While not all these alternative sources of pets are necessarily bad, they remain a factor keeping so many of the 6.5 million dogs and cats entering shelters out of homes by taking spots away (‘Companion Animal Overpopulation”). Furthermore, despite the existence of reputable breeders and pet stores, numerous places like these actually locate their animals from puppy mills. Puppy mills churn out dogs quickly by keeping their animals in inhumane conditions, and when dogs are deemed no longer profitable, they can be abandoned or killed, helping to contribute to the surplus of unwanted animals (“Top Reasons to Adopt a

Did you know about 25 million puppies and kittens are born into the United States each year? That’s more than 50,000 born each day in this country alone. Twenty five million pets produce yearly greatly exceeds the amount of willing families to take care of these animals that are born into the world. Even though, these massive amount of litters may in fact be completely healthy there is just not a sufficient enough of homes for this animals to be place in. statically reported by the humane society of the united states in October 2011 6 to 8 million animals who have no place to call their home are put into animal shelters. Unfortunately, due to the excessive surplus of these animals about half which is 3 to 4 million only make it out alive. The other half left to be euthanize by the shelter to make room for the new incoming animals. This turns out to be one animal euthanize every 8 sec. Pet overpopulation has been a serious problem throughout the nation for many years. The on ongoing cycle of bring unwanted litters of pets into the world makes it extremely difficult to reduce the amount of animals being euthanize across the nation each and every day. It’s important for people to understand the need to spay and neuter their family’s pets and all pets in general, all though people don’t understand that need its extremely important to take into account that these thousands of wanted any unneeded animals being born into the world each day will statically end up homeless, place in

The statistics are outrageous when it comes to the number of abandoned and neglected animals that are homeless or have to live out their lives in shelters all because owners take it upon themselves not to have their furry friends operated on. An estimated 11,000 pets in this country are euthanized daily, according to a Pet Smart Charities study—that’s half of the 8 million pets that land in shelters each year. Not all of these pets start out homeless. Half of U.S. pet owners who’ve had a pregnant dog or cat say the pregnancy happened “by accident,” according to statistics from the study (NAPS). This is only the number of unwanted animals that are actually caught; let us not forget about the feral animals on the street.

When this number decreases, so will the number of animals euthanized every year. For-profit breeders and puppy mills fail to recognize the benefits of getting their animals fixed, such as preventing health problems, saving money, and curbing bad behavior issues. Therefore, people should NOT adopt from such places. There are 7.6 million animals entering animal shelters nationwide each year, of those, one is bound to find a pet for their family at a suitable price. When a person adopts from an animal shelter, they help stop cruelty in mass breeding facilities, help break the cycles of pet overpopulation, support a valuable charity and most importantly, they save a

According to ASPCA, 3.9 million dogs enter animal shelters nationwide each year ( aspca.org ). From those 3.9 million dogs, only 35% of dogs are adopted. Hope Garcia, manager of Chicago Canine Rescue, stresses the issue of not enough people are aware of how valuable sheltered dogs truly are.. Receiving a new group of dogs every two weeks, The Chicago Canine Rescue has saved over 3,000 dogs since first established in 2001. (Hope pg. 5). “ We mainly try to assess dogs that are sentenced for euthanasia because for whatever the reason may be either they are too old, too young, disabled, or hurt, etc. We think it is very imperative to still give them a chance to be adopted,” said Hope. At Chicago Canine Rescue, they emphasize that they are a no

Did you know that about 3.2 million pets (of which 1.6 million are dogs) are adopted each year? Also, 1.5 million pets end up being euthanized, or put to sleep, each year, with about 670,000 dogs. The main reason is because the shelters are full and do not have any room for new animals. Dogs should be adopted from a shelter instead of a breeder. It is cheaper to adopt, you save time off your dog, and you are saving a dog’s life

In fact, the behavioral issues in puppy mill dogs may not “emerge for months or even years after adoption” (“Model Laws” sec. commentary). Because of these deceiving tendencies, puppy mill dogs appear to be a better deal at first glance. However, ironically, animals that are initially adopted from puppy mills have a high probability of being given to an animal shelter due to their behavioral problems, which make up 10% of all animals brought into shelters (Pet Statistics sec. 2). This means that not only are puppy mills taking up the opportunities for life that shelter puppies should have first dibs at, but they are also taking up a significant amount of the limited space in shelters. As a result of the constant supply that puppy mills churn out, 2.7 million animals that cannot be adopted from shelters in a timely manner are euthanized (Pet Statistics sec. 1). 2.7 million animals will enter a shelter one day, and never be able to leave cradled in the loving arms of a new family. Instead, they meet their end by the prick of a needle, lying on a sterile metal tabletop in the dark back room of a shelter. In perspective, 2.7 million animals a year boils down to more than 5 animals per minute. In the time taken to read this paper, more than 50 unwanted animals across America will be euthanized, regardless of their state of health. This

Allison Gray in her article “How Strict Animal Shelter Policies Can Cause Pets to Suffer,” offers a harsh critique that animal shelters hold a very strict adoption process by not allowing unqualified pet owners to adopt. She argues that adoption shelters want to find the perfect owner, but the perfect owner does not exist by her claims. Therefore, pets are not adopted out and are left to suffer in animal shelters. With the guidelines for pet adoption already in place she states that most pets were not adopted out because prospecting owners had an intact pet at home, their current pet was overdue for vaccines and they wanted an outdoor cat. She exudes that it is the shelters harsh policies that are keeping pets from being adopted out and finding their forever home.

Did you know at least 7,000 animals are euthanized each year? Dogs, cats, and many other pets are abandoned every day. Animal shelters take in over 100 pets every day and have to euthanize twice as many the next. How can we minimize the amount of animals being euthanized? The overcrowded animal shelters and the constant euthanasia can be prevented by creating bigger facilities, spaying and neutering pets, and advertising adoption day more effectively.