Adopt or Shop - Anoushka Majumdar

Writer's Corner

Article By: Anoushka Majumdar

Adopt or Shop?

“‘We are never going to go back to a time when we are going to make decisions to euthanize for space. We refuse to do that. ’” This is Julie Johnson, the executive director of the Animal Care Center and SPCA, describing the way the recent situation has affected animal shelters. With the recent situation, many animal shelters around the country are experiencing an influx of people looking to rehome their pets. This forces shelters to go past their limit to accommodate all these pets, even resorting to makeshift kennels. Breeders continue to breed dogs during this crisis. People should choose to adopt their pets over buying them from pet stores or breeders for the following reasons: the environment that breeders keep their pets in promotes severe animal cruelty, dogs that are the product of breeders very often suffer from major health problems and overpopulation in shelters often lead to animals being euthanized. Many breeders keep their dogs in environments that strip them of the bare minimum. In the article “Buying from Pet Breeders Promotes Animal Cruelty ” , the author talks about how one reason that animals are given the lowest standard of care by breeders is call animal hoarding. The article describes animal hoarding as a situation where “an individual possesses more than the typical number of animals……. but is unable to provide the minimal standards, ”(Marquez). নািনক 31 শারদীয়া পিকা ২০২২

Writer's Corner

Article By: Anoushka Majumdar

Adopt or Shop?

....Contd

While people may be searching for a pet that looks or acts a certain way, buying pets from stores or breeders who keep their animals in cruel environments is unnecessary, especially when only about half of shelter pets are put into homes, another point the article makes. If you choose to buy a dog from breeders when there are over 1 million pets being euthanized per year, you are directly contributing to animal cruelty.

When people want dogs that look a certain way, the breeder gets them to look that way. This often causes some very serious health issues for the animal. Sumera Siddiqi uses pugs as an example in her article, “Animal Lovers Should Adopt Pets, Not Shop” . The author talks about how pugs, which are only of the many breeds that suffer from these issues, are sought after due to the way they ’re built and their faces. But the fact that this look and build is made by the breeders, it tends to cause joint, eye, and neurological problems that can turn out to be fatal. These problems are due to the fact that breeders fish out certain traits that they want to be passed on, causing genetic diversity to decrease.

নািনক 32 শারদীয়া পিকা ২০২২

Writer's Corner

Article By: Anoushka Majumdar

Adopt or Shop?

....Contd

This causes the chance of unhealthy traits being distributed on much higher than pets from animal shelters. People looking to get pets should look for healthy pets over the ones who look or act a certain way. If people put the behavior and appearance of their pet over the welfare of the animal, then they shouldn’t be surprised when their pets suffer from fatal diseases.

With so many people looking to rehome their pandemic pets, shelters around the country are being backed into a corner that they don’t want to be in. The executive director of the Animal Care Center and SPCA, Julie Johnson, says that capacity in animal shelters have risen over 75%. The founder of Rocket Dog Rescue also explains how she started receiving “dozens of emails and text message requests every day ”(Nielson) from people wanting to return the pets they ’ ve adopted. Staff at shelters blatantly refuse to resort to euthanizing for space. Many senior dogs, who have become accustomed to families and homes of their own, have been dropped off at shelters as well. There are no signs that these numbers will decrease. Instead of buying from somebody that is contributing to the reason for animal overpopulation, adopting from a shelter gives one of the many rehomed animals a new home. নািনক 33 শারদীয়া পিকা ২০২২

Writer's Corner

Article By: Anoushka Majumdar

Adopt or Shop?

....Contd

From animal cruelty to overpopulation, pet breeders are slowly backing animal shelters into a corner that they cannot afford to be in. If we keep allowing places like this to stay open, the numbers will never decrease to what they used to be. Eventually, euthanization will become an option, whether people want it to or not. We need to make a change, for the sake of the animals and those who take care of them.

WORKS CITED PAGE

Marquez, Maria.

"Buying from Pet Breeders Promotes Animal Cruelty. " University Wire, 17 May 2021. SIRS Discoverer, explore.proquest.com/sirsdiscoverer. 31 January 2022

Morgen, Sam.

"Bakersfield Animal Care Center Waives Adoption Fees as Dogs.. " TCA Regional News, 30 Jun 2021. SIRS Discoverer, explore.proquest.com/sirsdiscoverer. 2 February 2022

Siddiqui, Sumera.

"Animal Lovers should Adopt Pets, Not Shop. " University Wire, 22 Sep 2021. SIRS Discoverer, explore.proquest.com/sirsdiscoverer. 31 January 2022

Nielsen, Katie.

"Animal Shelters Inundated with 'Pandemic Pups' as Adoptive Owners' .. " CNN Wire Service, 16 Jul 2021. SIRS Discoverer, explore.proquest.com/sirsdiscoverer. 2 February 2022

নািনক 34 শারদীয়া পিকা ২০২২