Posted on April 04, 2009 by Nancy Houser

Thanks, Frank, for forwarding another Internet photograph! Precious!

When the words “homeless animals” are typed into the Google search engine, it takes about .32 seconds for 2,810,000 results to come up on the subject, not showing us the six to eight million animals entering shelters on an annual basis. But out of these numbers, three to four million are being euthanized as we speak, the leading cause of death in animal shelters for healthy dogs and cats.

This breaks down to one animal being put down unnecessarily every nine seconds. By the time you finish a 10-minute cup of coffee, over 66 animals will needlessly die in front of you. How does that make one feel? Makes me feel like a pile of dodoo…. but do I need to say more for anyone to recognize the present system for homeless animals is failing. A system which is definitely not working and has not been for a long, long time.

A really sad fact is that only one out of three animals is provided a quality home that will last their lifetime. This boils down to only “one-out-of-three-puppies” will go home to a family and will successfully survive within that same family throughout their entire life. Why get one in the first place with that kind of statistic against you?

Many thoughts have been discussed for the reasons behind such low numbers in pet success. Could it be the puppy’s fault or due to lack of education on the part of the owners in caring for their animals—which actually boils down to the very same thing, doesn’t it?  Or could it be we simply have become such a throw-away society that we have developed into one which places no value on the quality of life or life itself. Either way, someone will have to take care of the throw-aways or pay to have them euthanized. Pretty simple math based on the fact that our country has approximately 6,000 animal shelters with only 20% of their animals being adopted out. This means 80% are being euthanized on a daily basis—somewhere.

CHANGING THE NAME OF THE GAME
Organizations, individuals and society spend plenty of time pointing at fingers. There is a good reason for this—as long as we are pointing at someone else we won’t be pointing at ourself—and truth of the matter is, none of us have any right looking at anyone else with judgment if we are not doing something on our own to correct the situation.

Our own single course of action should determine the world’s course of action for homeless animals—not counting on some huge organization to do it all which keeps getting bigger and bigger until they have become uncontrollable in themselves. Meanwhile, the world acts shocked when they find that organization is responsible for the euthanization of thousands of innocent animals at the cost of thousands of dollars.

What may be needed is something on more of a personal level on a much smaller scale. The most sincere form of caring in the rescue comes from the small grass root projects themselves, many who are working out of their own pockets. The rest are donating on some level to the homeless animal organizations. As a society, we need to look at a different way yet come up with better resutls, focusing on before the animals becomes abused or abandoned first. Too many efforts and dollars are being spent on “after the facts” which includes high-priced CEOs to run a failing system—banks are not the only thing that has gotten too big to succeed successfully over the years.

Some ideas could be free training classes to owners on the caring of animals, one-on-one counseling with animals owners who are in trouble, or even spaying/neutering at costs or even free for those who can ill afford it—yet cannot afford litter after litter of unwanted puppies. Instead of fining abusive owners or putting them in jail, instead sentence them to work at shelters who are in serious need of “volunteer” helpers. We save on the court costs, we save on what it would cost for the guilty party to being in jail and the care of his family while he is incarcerated, and so on. Let’s use some common sense and quit spending money which can be put to better use somewhere else—like improving the quality of life for the animal before it becomes homeless.

Results showing how many people are out there rescuing animals. Many are non-profit animal rescue organizations. The closest thing to any type of variation on a search is fostering a homeless animal or how to set up a non-profit homeless organization. But absolutely nothing is listed on a positive level about who the animal is about and how he got there, or how to prevent any of it. Less is available to help the pet owner. Because of this, the Internet is full of homeless animal scams in the name of “saving the homeless animals”—making money off people who actually are concerned with the growing problem and whose heart is in the right place.

STATISTICS OF SHELTER ANIMALS
Statistics are recently showing us that only 25% of shelter animals are quality purebreds. This means that one-fourth of the animals in shelters have probably been bred professionally. Most professional breeders do not want mixed breeds in their kennels, priding themselves on raising purebreds. The quality of breeder involved determines the quality of the purebred puppy. Right?

The other 75% of shelter animals have been removed or brought in from the streets for one reason or another. Those reasons involve irresponsible pet owners who allow their female dogs to run the streets, becoming bred out of ignorance or not being spayed—with few homes available for the unwanted puppies. Lack of education, lack of money, lack of responsibility, and lack of caring—where and who should we point the finger to?

So far lots of finger pointing is going around but maybe it is time we quit playing the vicious circle of the “blame game” and take things for what they really are—the majority of animals are simply “thrown away” when a certain segment of society becomes bored or tired of them, only to have them go out and purchase another one. Again and again.

Related posts:

• Promoting “Feeding Pets of the Homeless”
• Question: “Are Homeless Dogs more important then Homeless People?”
• Pets of the Homeless — Help Needed
• CEOs Making Money from Not-for-Profit Animals!!
• Homeless Man and His Dog