Adopt, Don't Shop
Why Adopting is the Way to go.
Introduction
"Approximately 7.6 million companion animals enter animal shelters nationwide every year. Of those, approximately 3.9 million are dogs and 3.4 million are cats."(1). These numbers are just for the U.S alone, which is a pretty crazy. Why would you want to buy animals from breeders or puppy mills when there are more than 7.6 million animals in shelters that need loving homes? Animals become part of the family whether you get them from a shelter or not, so why wouldn't you want to let them live a great life in a loving home instead of spending their whole life in a metal cage?
Adopt Don't Shop PSA
Benefits of Adopting from a Shelter
When adopting a dog or cat from an animal shelter instead of getting your animal from a breeder you will save a lot of money because shelters will typically give these benefits to you when adopting:
- examined by a licensed veterinarian
- treated for fleas/ticks as needed (all dogs are treated, cats as needed)
- cats are tested for Feline Leukemia (FeLV) and the Feline Immunodeficiency Virus (FIV)
- dogs are tested for heartworm and treated if positive
- vaccinated as age appropriate for distemper
- dogs are vaccinated with bordatella
- vaccinated for rabies after 4 months of age, as required by law
- microchipped
- every animal is spayed or neutered BEFORE adoption
Dog Available for Adoption Through the PACT Humane Society
Cat Available for Adoption through the PACT Humane Society
Dog Available for Adoption Through the PACT Humane Society
STOP PUPPY MILLS!
"It is estimated that there are at least 10,000 puppy mills in the U.S. Fewer than 3,000 of these are regulated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture."(4). Puppy Mills are purely a breeding ground for dogs in which they do not get to live the life a dog should be living. "172,739, Estimated number of dogs kept solely for breeding purposes in USDA licensed facilities"(4). Dogs that are being used to just keep breeding over and over again don't have any other purpose in their life other that to conceive and give birth to puppies. Many of these dogs are abused and live in awful conditions which leads to them getting parasites and diseases, or even worse death. Dogs are meant to be "man's best friend", that is why people need to not buy dogs from puppy mills so that these awful places can be shut down!
Why It Matters
"Each year, approximately 2.7 million animals are euthanized (1.2 million dogs and 1.4 million cats)."(1). This is such a saddening statistic because not only are animals having to live at shelters instead of amazing homes, their life is ended there too because people are not choosing to adopt. Every year more and more people are becoming away of this major issue involving animals in need of a home, in 2015, 37% of dogs and 46% of cats were adopted from a shelter instead of being bought from a breeder or puppy mill(3). These numbers have increased about 3% from just a few years ago. This proves that the movement of "Adopt, Don't Shop" is being spread across the country and that hopefully the gift of adopting an animal becomes more and more popular and that people will stop over breeding animals.
References
(1)https://www.aspca.org/animal-homelessness/shelter-intake-and-surrender/pet-statistics
(2)http://www.petango.com/pacthumane
(3)http://www.humanesociety.org/issues/pet_overpopulation/facts/pet_ownership_statistics.html
(4)http://www.humanesociety.org/news/publications/whitepapers/puppy-mill-research.html