5 of 27

Write now Article Tools

There are several things causing the huge number of homeless animals in our country. The most obvious contributor to the ever growing problem is simply pet overpopulation. At last count there are approximately SIX puppies and kittens born for every human baby in the US. Think about it folks - to give a home to every dog or cat born in the United States, we would each have to have 6 animals - that's 12 if you're married and 24 if you're married with 2 kids. This is a huge problem and it is only getting worse.

Spaying and neutering is the only way to help end this problem. Many communities have free or reduced-cost spay/neuter programs available for those who cannot otherwise afford it. There are also many communities that have a program in which feral cats are trapped, spayed or neutered, given basic shots and released back into the area where they were originally caught. Anyone interested in the large number of homeless animals should become familiar with the programs in their community and share the information with their friends, neighbors, school or church groups, etc.

The other thing that I see as a contributing factor to homelessness among our animal friends is, in my opinion, as serious as the fact that there are too many of them. This is the attitude of most people towards their companion animals - oh, excuse me - most people call them pets. Approximately 50% of the animals that are at local shelters have been brought there by their "owners". These are generally people that at some point in time brought that animal home with the intention of loving and caring for it. Then, for whatever the reason, something changed and the animal is no longer welcome in the owner's life.

As a long time volunteer at a local shelter, I have probably heard and seen it all. I can't count for you the times that I've watched someone bring in a German Shepherd, a Lab or - folks, you're going to love this - a Saint Bernard and say "well, I just didn't know he would get this big..." Excuse me - what planet are these people living on?!? Other excuses include the famous "I had a baby (or am going to have a baby) and it just wouldn't be fair to the dog - I'm not going to have much time, after all" or "Well, we moved and the new place doesn't allow dogs". Another one I love is "I can't get the dog to quit peeing in the house" - feel free to substitute barking, jumping up on the kids, digging in the trash, jumping the fence, or any of the other multitude of "sins" that dogs commit when they end up with people either too lazy to take the time to train them themselves or too cheap to have someone do it for them. One of the excuses that made me the maddest, was the lady who brought in two beautiful, well-trained (and clean, I might add) black Labradors and said she had just remodeled and didn't want to have to vacuum black dog hair off of her new white carpet.

Animals are not toys, nor are they pieces of furniture to be discarded on a whim. Animals are sentient beings with feeling - they feel love and happiness, they feel devotion, and they can also feel pain, confusion and despair. We live in a throw-away society and our animals are suffering because of it. I guess when you're used to disposable bottles, disposable diapers, no-fault divorce (basically disposable spouses and kids), etc, then disposable pets is just a logical next step. Unfortunately, these "disposable" pets are living, breathing, feeling creatures who don't understand why they've become a throw-away to the family they love.

Learn more about this author, Sherry Law.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.

Add your voice

Know something about How to end animal homelessness?
We want to hear your view. Write now!