Companion Animals & Sheltering

 I think that we kind of have taking compainion animals for granted and that many compainion animals have become stray animals likely due to people not wanting them anymore so they dump their pets out on the street so that the people don't have to bare the costs of keeping pets when they find out they can't afford to keep their pet anymore. For example in Massacuthess a big housing crisis had impacted animals such as horses and dogs as bigger animals cost more and have more restrictions then animals like cats (Gibson, 2024). 

In New York City the city's biggest animal shelter has had to contend with 3,200 dogs that were abanndoned which from 2022 was up 41% (Gibson, 2024). In competitive housing markets stricter rules that ban or limit pets have been made by landlords, these rules have effected mostly both large dogs and certian breeds of dogs (Gibson, 2024). In the United States and Canada about 40% to 50% of animals in shelters get euthanized, and most of these animals are cats (Turner, Berry, and Macdonald, 2012).

Stray animals are also a concren for environmental reasons like stay pets preying on animals like birds, and strays being hunted by predators like coyotes bringing them into urban settings (Turner, Berry, and Macdonald, 2012). In conclusion I just think that we try to reform some of the rules regarding compainion animals so they are less likely to get sent to animal shelters or the restore animal shelter conditions for the animals sent to them and prevent these animals in the shelters from being put down.

Gibson, K. (2024, January 9). Animal shelters are overwhelmed by abandoned dogs. here’s why. CBS News. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/animal-shelters-overwhelmed-by-abandoned-dogs/ 

Turner, P., Berry, J., & Macdonald, S. (2012, August). Animal shelters and animal welfare: Raising the bar. The Canadian veterinary journal = La revue veterinaire canadienne. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3398531/