In 2023, 690,000 dogs and cats were euthanized in shelters across the US. For many members of the public, this calls to mind healthy, adoptable animals euthanized for space in open admission (so-called “kill”) shelters – those required to accept all animals, even if there’s no room. But shelters also have to cope with owner-requested euthanasias, behavioral problems and animals who are so sick or injured that a gentle death is the most positive outcome.
The issue shelters are facing is this: after a record low of 5.5 million in 2020, animal intakes are slowly increasing, and they aren’t leaving – in 2023, 6.5 million animals entered, and only a little over 6 million left. Animals are lingering for weeks, months and sometimes years in shelters. Between 2022 and 2023, the number of animals waiting to get out of shelters increased by 177,000.
Some animal care and control agencies tell people to leave found animals alone because they don't have the capacity to handle them.Those people turn to a foster-based rescue that is similarly inundated. As closed admission shelters, They can decide to turn animals away if they lack space, even though they strive to prevent it, knowing what may happen to those they do not accept.
The list of people waiting to surrender animals is always growing. Yet getting people to understand that crisis sometimes feels impossible. Most members of the public are only interested in one thing: euthanasia.
(S.E. Smith. "America’s animal shelters are overwhelmed. Pets – and staff – are at breaking point." The Guardian. April 17, 2024.These lives do not blur together. We remember all of them
While the media popularized the idea of the “pandemic puppy”, dogs adopted by white-collar workers trapped at home only to be discarded as soon as the world reopened, the truth of what’s happening in animal welfare is more complicated. It’s gotten harder to access and afford vet care, while emergency extensions of the social safety net, including increased Snap benefits, expansions to Medicaid, childcare assistance, the student loan pause, the child tax credit, and generous unemployment insurance benefits have come to an end, leaving people in financial likelihood that hurts pets too. Far from a world where people treat animals as disposable, we are surrounded by people who love and desperately want to keep their pets, but can’t.
Animal care workers confront a form of moral injury, in which they may struggle with being asked to do things that go against their consciences, or circumstances expose them to feelings of helplessness or betrayal. Many are dedicated volunteers working only for the love of animals.
In open admission shelters, some employees are coping with the caring-killing paradox, described in 2005 in a study exploring the heavy impact of euthanasia on shelter workers, who may play with a dog in the morning and euthanize it in the afternoon. Both phenomena are associated with issues such as anxiety, suicidal ideation and substance use disorder as people struggle to process traumatic events.
Addressing the Issue
Animal control shelters and their workers are facing increasingly dire consequences. Consider how the population of unwanted animals increases -- especially detrimental to bigger, adult dogs. No one wants to adopt them. They are left to languish and to eventual being euthanized. Pounds and shelters make possible adoption or sponsorship as best they can. However, rising prices for these adoptions -- often astronomical for the more popular and smaller breeds is hitting a serious high. Many poorer people just can't afford the price required. Cost factors must be reconsidered because paying hundreds, thousands, for such animals is impossible in so many cases.
I blame careless breeders, lack of spaying and neutering, and just plain indifference for much of the crisis. Owning and raising a pet is serious business, and the public must realize taking severe actions against puppy mills and while neglectful pet owners must face stiff, swift, and fair prosecution and costs themselves. How can one measure the life of a domesticated animal? Leaving them living in squalid unhealthy conditions is criminal. I say make such breeders must pay stiffly for their neglect of these beautiful animals.
One last gripe -- due to crooks who want to profit from adoption -- sales to the public suffer. I get it. I understand the need to stop unlawful treatment of animals; however, adoption is often very complicated, slowing down the process of saving pets' lives while the real perpetrators of the crimes often get off scot free. Both potential owners and shelters find this reduction in turnover impossible to comprehend. In the meantime, dogs and cats die due to lack of funds and full shelters. How "cruel and unusual" can you get? Officials must help end this slaughter immediately with more money and time given to the proper agencies of enforcement to end the abuse.
Let's face it -- pet shelters are also poor places for pets. Lacking enough room and proper attention, workers are pitiful stand-ins for responsible owners. I feel most animals spend the majority of their days in cages with lack of needful attention. The workers do the best they can, but the pets need families to recover from trauma and to thrive. Saving a pet is gratifying: the love offered by the adopter does not match the rewards these animals offer. Devoted adoption is so more rewarding and healthful than anything these animals have ever experiences. They are forever thankful for their adoption Make them cheaper and even more available, please. Lives are in the balance. Most of us can't afford the large amounts of money asked for their sweet lives.
Pet users; abusers; uninformed, spiteful owners; and profit mongers, stay away! Prosecute the guilty abusers and make them pay dearly for each day they must be kenneled. The loving, general public does take on these financial responsibilities when traveling or needing serious pet attention. Now, make the original human birth parents responsible too. I very much want them to hurt -- in their pocketbooks and behind bars.
Make local dogs more affordable! Prices required for adoption are soaring. I understand the tremendous costs incurred by shelters, but hundreds (thousands?) of dollars for adoption is just too much. Save the life of the pet! No one can put an adequate dollar amount on this chance for survival anyhow.
No comments:
Post a Comment