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| Quinn in the backyard. |
When I adopted Quinn, I met several senior dogs at Manatee County Animal Services after looking online for a couple of weeks and felt adopting from the county shelter would be more to my speed. A lot of people will not adopt from county shelters because they are "kill" shelters, which means they euthanize which I never have understood. Why wouldn't you adopt from a shelter where you know animals might lose their lives than a "no kill" where the dogs can live for a very long time? But...I digress.
In the past year I have watched the animals which need homes increase tremendously at all the animal shelters. All types and breeds seem to be flooding shelters in rural spots and cities and towns. They are all begging for fosters and adopters to try and alleviate the overcrowding in their shelter. Although people are adopting, they don't seem to be adopting at the same rate as they were during Covid-19. I think the general public believe that now that America is back to work, they can just bring their pets back to the shelters they adopted from because they have completed their purpose. How very wrong they are. It makes me so sad to watch these poor animals being turned in once again because the owners "don't have time" for them. Or to be "fair to them they need to be rehomed."
Bullshit, pardon my cursing but this tired old excuse is just that, an excuse. You are discarding your responsibility to an animal you promised to take care of. An animal that is totally dependent on you for life. An animal which has no idea how much money you do or do not have and simply loves you unconditionally. An animal YOU depended on for whatever reason: loneliness, companionship, mental health, or whatever.
I know when I write one of these columns, only my friends read it. I know it is not reaching the people I wish it would reach and change someone's mind. I keep trying because talking to Quinn during the summer when I am not in school, has not resulted in changing anyone's mind. Quinn enjoys it and follows me everywhere but no minds are changed.
Please do three things for me: have your pets spayed and neutered to prevent all the unwanted puppies coming in to shelters, stop buying backyard breeder puppies or pet store puppies, stop turning your animals in to shelters or, God forbid, setting them loose, because your life got a littler harder. No one said it was easy but it will be worth it.
