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?
-ABC
