Adopt Me

Adoption instead of buying.

By Mengyue Wu

Photo by Caio Resende from Pexels

Meet my dog, Eggy!

When he was two months old, we took him home from a relative. My relative's dog gave birth to this cute puppy. We started a happy time with him.

I dare not say that he is the happiest dog in the world. However, my family and I tried our best to provide him with the best living environment.

He is five years old now. We will celebrate his birthday together, take him to the river for a run, and take him on a self-driving tour during the holidays. We really enjoyed the time with him.

However, not all animals can live in safe and comfortable places and be treated well.

6.5 million

companion animals enter U.S. animal shelters

nationwide every year

Image by Viktar Masalovich from Pixabay

Image by Alexas_Fotos from Pixabay

Every year, there are around 6.5 million companion animals enter U.S. animal shelters nationwide. (ASPCA)

According to Animal Humane Society, animals are sent to shelters for various reasons. It is distressing that among all the reasons, the highest proportion is actually owner surrender. It is unimaginable that people have taken the initiative to send pets to shelters after raising them.

According to the data from Shelter Animals Count in December 2018, luckily, most of the animals in the shelters are adopted.

It should not be overlooked that shelter euthanasia is the fourth most outcomes. Many animals are euthanized due to the overcrowding in shelters, sick, injured, and so on. Some of them died or lost in care.

Sadly, although so many animals were euthanized each year, of those people with pets in the United States, a lot of people claimed they bought dogs from breeders.

People chose to buy pets from breeders. Meanwhile, the number of animals sent to shelters increased rapidly every year. This creates an imbalance between supply and demand.

More animals being sent to the shelter meant that the shelter would need more space, money and manpower to take care of these animals. Overcrowded shelters reduced the quality of life of animals in shelters.

We need to do something to stop this situation!

According to the national shelter outcome data from Shelter Animals Count, we can see that the shelter euthanasia rate has been significantly decreased due to the increasing adoption rate.

Adopting animals can reduce the burden on animal shelters and help all animals in animal shelters to live a better life. Adopted animals can also start happy times with their owners.

Image by Alexas_Fotos from Pixabay

If you are going to raise a pet, I hope you can think twice. Ask yourself, can you take responsibility for this little life? They may only accompany you for a short time compared to your whole lifetime. However, for them, you are their world.

There are too many little angles in the world who have been abandoned in shelters. If you are determined to have a pet, why not take him or her home from a shelter? Your actions will not only bring happiness to this little angel, but also relieve the burden for the shelters and indirectly help other animals in the shelter.

Photo by **Caio Resende** from **Pexels**

Photo by **Caio Resende** from **Pexels**

They need your help!

Adopting animals instead of buying.

Adopt

Donate

Data source:

[1]"Pet Statistics", ASPCA. [Online]. Available: https://www.aspca.org/animal-homelessness/shelter-intake-and-surrender/pet-statistics. [Accessed: 15- Nov- 2019].

[2]"Shelter Animals Count \| Explore the Data \| Timeline", Shelteranimalscount.org, 2019. [Online]. Available: https://shelteranimalscount.org/data/Explore-the-Data/explore-the-data-timeline. [Accessed: 15- Nov- 2019].

[3]"Lifesaving statistics", Animal Humane Society, 2019. [Online]. Available: https://www.animalhumanesociety.org/about/lifesaving-statistics. [Accessed: 15- Nov- 2019].

[4]"2019-2020 APPA National Pet Owners Survey", American Pet Products Association. [Online]. Available: https://www.americanpetproducts.org/pubs_survey.asp. [Accessed: 27- Nov- 2019].