Guelder Rose

A City close to where I live has a population of approx 140,000 people ... the animal shelter for that area takes in 12,000 dogs per year and euthanises 45% of them ... that equals more than 100 dogs every single week being destroyed! They have a list on the entrance door detailing all DOA's for the last 24 hours and that list fills a whole sheet of letter sized paper ... strays taken in for the previous 24 hours fills 3 sheets!

I know we had strays in the UK, but not on this scale ... is it just me, or does anyone else think that it is about time people in this country started having more respect for animals?

What was that quote ... "A nation can be judged on how they treat their pets" ?

AmerLisa

I'll never forget the time we took a stray dog to the animal shelter.....we couldn't keep it, we already had a dog and we lived in a rental. They told us that they would try and find the owner, or a home....but that it would be put down if they couldn't find either. My daughter and I went back a couple of weeks later to check on the dog, it really was a very cute young dog. The woman looked it up and told us the dog had been put down a few days before that. My older daughter (who was about 11 at the time) was absolutely heartbroken. I swore from then on I would never take an animal to the animal shelter, but to try and find a home for it myself. Sorry, your thread just reminded me of that incident. Very sad.

But, I do think that there should be a bigger push for all animals to be spayed or neutered.

ladylisa

I'm so glad you posted this because I have been thinking about posting myself about this. I have to say in my area the animal shelters seem to find homes for most dogs without too much difficulty as I was looking for a dog myself and was quite surprised how quickly they were adopted.

However I didnt see it but last week on the Oprah show she did a segment about her choosing 3 new golden retriever puppies from a breeder the dogs were for herself now obviously it is up to her where she gets her dogs from but how irresponsible of her to televise this. She is probably the most influential person in this country if she had gone to a shelter and televised that then think what a positive impact this would have on the animal shelter industry. Furthermore how many dogs are now homeless because of the last two hurricanes what fab timing that would have been. I understand from reading the Oprah message board that the breeder she chose was actually nothing more than a puppy farm with convictions pending for cruelty! What a stupid women. The number of complaints written about this was incredible. Some of the posters wrote that they have been asking Miss Winfrey to highlight the plight of animal shelters for years. Which goes to show that the average person does love and care for their animals, its just the cruel minority. However whats the betting that the demand for Golden Retrievers goes through the roof this year.

Guelder Rose

I'm sorry to have brought back such a sad memory for you ... I can imagine how you must have felt! I do know that the animal shelters will not allow any animal to be adopted until it has been spayed/neutered ... but that only deals with those animals at the shelters. It has been an all too common site for me to see people with a box of puppies trying to sell them on a street corner or outside a store!

I also visited another animal shelter in another area not so long ago and was totally disgusted. The animals were housed in large pens outside with no protection from the heat. In some pens there were several dogs housed together and while I was there I witnessed some of the dogs fighting. I also witnessed some of them being fed ... and the dominant dogs would set about the other dogs if they tried to eat anything. All I can say is that the shelter local to me does at least have an indoor facility that is air conditioned, and each dog has a kennel to itself.

Celsius

One reason that you might find a lot of unwanted animals at say, end of an academic year is that university students dump their pets when they return home. The student doesn't want to go to the hassle of taking their pet home (especially across country or possibly a nearby state)...

Guelder Rose

I also thought the dogs were adopted very quickly ... I visited twice in one week and many of the dogs that were there on my first visit were gone. However, on asking a few questions I then realised that many of them had not been adopted but had in fact been destroyed.

I asked what happened to the dogs that were destroyed ... they are collected by a company, boiled to remove the fat ... and then that animal fat is used for shampoo, soap, etc! I'm trying hard to think positively on that one, i.e. waste not, want not? But, can you imagine losing your dog and then tracing it to an animal shelter but being told that he/she had been destroyed and boiled up for his/her fat content?

Guelder Rose

And if that pet was so easily disposed of ... why on earth did the student have it in the first place? Silly question really ... where I live everyone has a dog that is just left in the yard to rot ... I don't understand why they have them, I only know they do. I do believe, or hope, that such behaviour is very rare in the UK.

Winterwords

I totally agree with this statement. It is irresponsible for a pet owner not to get their dog or cat neutured (male or female).

As you've said, it is a problem in the UK along with animal cruelty, but nowhere near on the level that it is in the States. A lot of people seem very ignorant as to why they need to have their animals neutered.

I think I'd find it really hard to go to an animal shelter in the States because I'd know that the animals I was seeing would be put down in a few weeks if no home was found for them.

If you love your pet & animals you should act in a responsible manner & get them spayed/neutered. This message is so important & could end so much cruelty/distress for animals.

britvic

I just knew this thread was going to fill me up I cant go in them Pet Smart's or anything like it anymore, because of selling puppys and kittens, it breaks my heart. It would seem just pay the money for the pet and they dont give a flying F**k who or whare the poor animal is going, BARBARIC

anotherlimey

My local Pet Smart "sells" only cats from an adoption centre; some of the money you pay goes to the centre.

Leslie

Do you anything to back that up?

Manc

she works at a university, I guess the source would be her own observations........

Leslie

Yes but it is such a small percentage of the population I found it to be a strange remark. There is no one reason for the large population of strays/dumps.

Angry White Pyjamas

- Puppy Mills.
- Irresponsible society using pets as accessories and status symbols as they would the lastest car/house/gadget/diamond necklace.
- Total disregard for animals as they are apparently not as worthy as humans according to certain religious teachings
- Money.


Myself and my daughter volunteer at our local humane society and most days you can turn up of a morning to find several animals tied to the fence. The bastard owners not even having the decency or guts to actually come in and hand over their "pets" face to face. And a lot of these come from well off families. Just they have decided this particular "fashion accessory" no longer matches the latest car or outfit.

LeedsGirl

One of my daughter's teachers requests that at Christmas and for Teacher Appreciation Week instead of buying her gifts that they make a donation to the Humane Society. We thought this was a wonderful idea and have continued to make donations on our own. The problem with our local Humane Society is that it is overrun with Pitbulls and they turn down a lot of other dogs that could go to wonderful families