“The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way that its animals are treated.”
It’s easy to forget about animals. They don’t talk, they’re often small and can easily hide and run away. But they are still life, and the way we treat them says a lot about who we are. We all know how precious life is, yet we deny it or even take it away from millions of animals each year. Animals wander into shelters and if an owner is not located or someone does not adopt them, they are killed. It is too expensive to keep them or shelters simply do not have room. With so many of us out there wishing to have a dog, cat or any other pet, it just doesn’t seem right that this is happening. Let’s take a look at the numbers:
Some 2.7 million animals are euthanized every year in the United States
34 percent of the animals that enter into a shelter are killed for lack of space or funds
Only 29 percent of cats and dogs acquired each year are adopted from shelters
Only 10 percent of the cats and dogs taken to shelters each year are spayed or neutered
So what’s going on here? There are literally millions of cats and dogs waiting to be adopted, yet people keep looking elsewhere when they want to get a pet. Why are we ignoring these animals? Why aren’t they good enough to let them into our homes?
Raising awareness about the importance of spaying and neutering as well as encouraging shelter adoptions is critical to helping reduce the number of animals that are needlessly killed each year.
These animals that end up in shelters are just as good as any animal you might buy from a breeder. Our work with this cause is around promoting adoptions and encouraging people to #AdoptNotShop. There is absolutely no reason to be spending vasts sums of money on a dog or a cat when millions of perfectly good animals are being killed each and every year because they don’t have a home to go to.
By helping people realize the benefits of having a pet and by giving them the opportunity to connect with animals in a personal way, we are working to find homes for these animals and to reduce the number of euthanizations.
These animals deserve to live just like any other living being, and it is our goal to make sure they have the chance to do so.