Pet adoptions surge during coronavirus lockdown - is this really good?

LOL they will be care for once more as sometimes I question if my partner love me but not that she love the animals.

There is a basic logical contradiction here...

Most pets that are in shelters are euthanized (i.e. put to death) because there are more animals that need homes then there are humans willing to care for them.

The assumption here is that a dog being adopted and loved for 6 or 7 years by an owner that then passes away is somehow worse than that same dog living a short life in an impersonal shelter before being euthanized.

I get the emotional sentiment, but it doesn't make logical sense. It seems to me that a dog being adopted from a shelter (by a human that isn't malicious) is almost always a good thing.

This has changed a lot - actually statistically most animals are not euthanized.

Where I live I do not know of any shelters that euthanized - not sure if they do not even allow this - I know this varies by state, but in the past couple of years I had did a search for adopting a dog. I had found a lot about this. Many no-kill shelters or other pet adoption agencies will even post if there is an animal in a kill shelter that is close to their "time." Some of these agencies even go and rescue the animal and will foster them so they are adoptable.

We ended up adopting a dog from TN - for some reason TN seems to have many dogs that are abandoned. The agency we adopted from fosters dogs until they are adopted and then "ships" them up in a truck north from TN through all the coastal states making stops along the way - this truck brings along dogs from several shelters/agencies from TN.

Statistically about 32% of animals in shelters are euthanized. Less dogs than cats -

https://www.nokilladvocacycenter.org/statistics.html

From the American Humane society. I don't know why there is such a discrepancy in the figures. https://www.americanhumane.org/fact-sheet/animal-shelter-euthanasia-2/

The stats you are quoting are from 1997 -that could be the discrepancy.

"Unfortunately, the most recent statistics published by the National Council are from 1997, and only 1,000 shelters replied to the survey at that time. Using the National Council’s numbers from 1997 and estimating the number of operating shelters in the United States to be 3,500 (the exact number of animal shelters operating in the United States does not exist), these estimates were made:

Of the 1,000 shelters that replied to the National Council’s survey, 4.3 million animals were handled.

In 1997, roughly 64 percent of the total number of animals that entered shelters were euthanized — approximately 2.7 million animals in just these 1,000 shelters. These animals may have been euthanized due to overcrowding, but may also have been sick, aggressive, injured or suffering from something else.

56 percent of dogs and 71 percent of cats that enter animal shelters are euthanized. More cats are euthanized than dogs because they are more likely to enter a shelter without any owner identification."

Most of the dogs in rescue groups in Ontario are from the US, Egypt or from Quebec (where there are still puppy mills). The actual shelters rarely have dogs, it's quite competitive and the adoption process is rigorous as a result. Pets are not euthanized unless they are very very sick. There are a couple of rescue groups in the country north of Toronto that specialize in training/retraining animals with aggression/fear aggression. Even the most difficult dogs seem to have waiting lists for them.

One neighbour got her dogs from a rescue in Greece, another family brought their dog here from the Caribbean.

Yes I have known people who have gotten their rescues from overseas.

It seems in the US most come from the south. And yes I had a hard time finding a dog to adopt. Each time I found one - someone got him/her first. So when I saw my Sadie - I jumped on it.

Some shelters/agencies have very rigorous demands to adopt. I remember even 25 years ago when I finally bought my own condo and wanted to adopt a cat - I had to bring all this paper work --

But it is dependent on the shelter or agency - most want to make sure they have a permanent placement - win/win situation - they do not want to see the pet coming back.

The dog we ended up adopting was found in a cold rainy evening shivering and crying under a porch. The owner of the home called up the agency in which we ended up adopting her from .

Who just dumps a puppy outside to fend for themselves?

The numbers have to add up. The ASPCA numbers...

6.5 Million pets enter shelters every year.
3.2 Million are adopted.
0.71 Million are returned to their owners

That leaves an excess of 3.2 Million pets each year that aren't adopted. They are either euthanized (or die of other causes in a shelter), or they are stored in the shelter indefinitely.

Shelters are for humans, not for animals. These shelters exist to make human beings feel better about themselves. They receive funding from human beings. They receive political support from human beings. They receive praise, respect and good press coverage from human beings. If they have to choose between what actually reduces overall suffering and what looks good in the newspapers, I don't blame them for doing what the public wants.

These shelters are incentivized to do what makes human beings happy. They don't get any reward for doing what actually is best for the animals involved.

I am especially skeptical of these shelters that advertise how moral they are based on carefully cultivated statistics. If you cater to a White middle class educated community and reject any dogs that you know won't be snapped up... then of course your statistics will look good as will your news coverage.

I am not sure this is a bad thing (nature herself is pretty cruel to animals), but if we are talking about what is "good" we should acknowledge this fact.

My understanding is that most of the remaining puppy mills in the US are in the South, where regulation hasn't kept up with the rest of the country. One of the groups I did a bit of volunteer work with had regular convoys doing legs of transport from Georgia/Alabama/Tennessee through northern New York State into Ontario. It was kind of funny to run into pockets of people with southern coonhounds up here. Those dogs always need coats in winter.


ah the Tennessee Treeing Walker Coonhound. There's one down the block. Came from one of the Carolinas.

here's a lovely gal looking for a home

http://post.rescueme.org/20-04-14-00008

pulled from a kill shelter and needing rehoming

I am a humanist.

If a senior citizen would benefit from adopting a pet, let them. There are psychological benefits to having a pet. It would be cruel to a human being to take this option away.

That being said, I think in general most adoptions are good for the animals who need homes as well.

With all the cats that need homes in this world and the fools made you jump thought hoops!!!!!!!

I think that if you would open a can of cat food on the moon there is a good chance of a cat showing up<grin>

I was once talking to a woman while we waited to go into a cat show and she told me that she was meeting a breeder to pick up a kitten for a few hundreds dollars and at the time I stated that when I wish to add a cat to my household I just open a can of cat food outside my door.

It depends where you live. I rarely see a cat outdoors any more but I bet if I went to my moms hone I would find many.

I would hate to even tell the horror stories I have personally been involved in. I worked at a large university, and lived on a country road about two miles out of town. College kids routinely dumped dogs and cats on the road out there, and drove off at high speed. Fortunately, I was often able to find homes for them.

I was walking home from town early one morning, having spent the night at a friend's house; it was the fourth of July weekend. As I got to the edge of town, I heard a dog whimpering. There had been a drenching rain the night before, and some small, local flash floods. I walked off into a wood lot by the road, where the grass and shrubs had just been laid flat by the storm. There I found a puppy, maybe six months old, who still had a really crummy chain around his neck, which had dug into the flesh. He had apparently been washed downstream by the storm. A peg was still attached to the end of the chain. So whatever creep or creeps "owned" the dog had just chained him up outside, and went off to party. I wrapped him up in my denim jacket (which he peed all over) and carried him home with me. I took him to work with me the following Tuesday, and my Boss got all pissed off. However, one of my student workers said she'd take him. I had a long talk with her, and it was obvious that she'd be a good companion. Two years later, when she had graduated, she still had the dog, which she and her fiancé had named Steamboat, for Steamboat Springs, a Colorado ski resort. Happy people, very happy dog. They don't all work out so well.

That reminds me of a dog someone left at the apartments when I worked there. A young man handed me his keys and as he was leaving he said there was a loose dog on his porch. I found a Catahoula dog, about a year or two old standing at the door, expecting to be let in. I would love to have kept him, but it was impossible. I looked around almost a week and found a nice young couple to take him in.

I spent a better part of a year living in a working class city in the North Mexico. You could google it but it isn't on anyone's travel itinerary. It is a place where people live, work and build lives for themselves.

Stray dogs on the streets are pretty common. Some of them seem reasonably healthy (although clearly none of them ever get a bath). Some of them are pretty decrepit. They are just there. Of course many families have dogs a pets... but street dogs are not pets. If a street dog dies, it gets cleaned up. If a dog becomes a problem to humans, it is dealt with. These street dogs are simply a fact of life.

In the White, middle-class West, we want to value the lives of dogs as much as (or even more than) we value the lives of human beings.

This is a luxury that most of the world doesn't have.

I think the worry is pet neglect or abandonment or even abuse once the "need" for companionship is over.

So you adopt this dog because you are lonely - for a couple of months this dog is lavished with attention. Then you go back to work - you are gone 10 hours a day (with commute time and so forth) - the dog is left alone all day. Anyone familiar with a dog knows how social they are and how cruel it is for them to be left all alone.

Dogs also get bored so this dog starts to destroy things - chews on things - tears things a part - I even had a dog eat our carpet - and this was leaving her a couple of hours in a crate with toys.

Some of these pet owners then decide to get rid of it - some just dump them somewhere instead of to a shelter or rescue agency. Some might start abusing the animal because of the destruction.

The dog would likely be better off being adopted by someone who wants a companion for life - not for the short term.

They are living and loving creatures - they are not there for our pure entertainment.

I get your point, and I am not getting a dog for that exact reason. After the current shutdown, I will go back to traveling alot and as much as I want a dog, I don't get one.

There is some moral weirdness here. Dogs were created by humans for human entertainment. We now have this weird moral relationship with these animals... they have more emotional weight than cows. They are still legally disposable, which is why they are allowed to be bred and euthanized. But they carry emotional weight as a species (and even more so as individual animals).

Our morality around animals is not at all clear. Compare dogs to rats (another intelligent and emotional animal able to bond with humans). We have no problem killing rats... although my brother notes the difference between the two rats who are beloved pets for his children and the other rats he puts poison out for.

If the goal is to optimize the lives saved of dogs, I still think that the current surge might be an overall plus.

Really? How did they do this? I did not know that humans created dogs? I did not know we were capable of creating life that is a new one. Now I have heard of cloning but making a living thing?

And to me - all animals should be treated humanely. And rats make excellent pets - domestic ones of course.

Being treated humanely does not mean there is not occasion where you never kill animals - if it is needed such as for food or health reasons (thus killing rats) you still do so humanely with as little pain possible.

That is my concern of these pets being adopted - after one goes back to their old routine it is possible the pet will end not be treated humanely.

I remember once dating this young man - I went to his house (since he was very young 19 or so at the time he still lived with his parents) - his dog was there. I called the dog over started playing with it and giving him attention. The guy said - why are you paying attention to that old dog. And I said because he is so sweet. He pretty much told me no one pays attention to him. I gave him a tongue lashing on that - the dog loved me. I was his new friend - I felt so bad that they got him as a puppy and once he got to be a couple of years old - the whole family pretty much ignored him other than to feed and send him outside.

To me that is neglect of an animal. Dogs for the most part are very social and have instincts to live in a pack. Not paying attention to them is cruel.

My mom likes one of my dogs - she has been hinting that she might want one. So after all this corona stuff and people start sending dogs back - I am going to see if I can find her one.