Fur-Ever Friends

When I think of animals, the first one that comes into my mind is my dog, Abby. She is a Boston Terrier, and we got her when she was about two years old. You could say we formed a kind of bond, Abby and I, because our personalities are extremely similar. We run together, play together, and at night sleep side by side. So you can imagine the first thing that popped into my mind when I walked into my journalism class and was told that the Person County Animal Shelter’s death rate was 95 percent. I pictured Abby. I immediately felt called to do something for these animals, due to lack of adoption and having a limited amount of space, many animals must be put down in order to make room for more.   

 Many people adopt animals when they are just born because they think they’re small and cute. What some don’t realize is that their small and cute animal is going to grow up and become bigger as time goes on. Some owners have unrealistic expectations for their animals, and this leads to them being dropped off on the side of the road or street corner. This has happened to my family many times, where stray cats or dogs find themselves wandering up our driveway, looking for food and water. We live at a crossroad where animal owners think is the best place to drop off their unwanted pet.

 If owners are not going to breed their dogs on purpose, they should take responsibility and get them spayed and neutered so they are not able to reproduce. There are many alternatives to cost when it comes to having your pet spayed or neutered.

 There are other ways besides having your animal euthanized. There are adoption agencies and foster agencies that are available and will care for the animal until a permanent home can be found. But most importantly, there are people who donate their time to spay and neuter animals cheaply. Pet owners must be willing to absorb some cost for their animal to be safe and not be able to produce young. This would lower the death rate simply because there were no unwanted offspring.

 I think all animals deserve a loving and caring home just like people do. After all, if you believe man is the most intelligent animal, then why are we killing our brethren?