An adorable dog looks amongst potential adopters, waiting for his second chance at life.

Issue Summary

Animal homelessness is an issue that has always existed, but the extent to which it has reached is unknown to many. Millions of animals every year become homeless because of variables often out of their control: divorce, financial troubles, lack of interest, a heavy bias towards pure-breed dogs by shoppers, irresponsible owners not spaying and neutering their pets. This has led to the inevitable homelessness of millions of perfect, loving animals. According to Shelter Intake and Surrender, by the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, “6.5 million companion animals enter U.S. animal shelters nationwide every year. Of those, approximately 3.3 million are dogs and 3.2 million are cats.” Best Friends, an organization dedicated to saving homeless animals, states “every day, nearly 5,500 dogs and cats are killed in America’s shelters simply because they don’t have safe places to call home.” On an annual scale, this equates to roughly 2,007,500 animals euthanized each year. In an article written by Kristina Pepelko on onegreenplanet.org, 12 Alarming Facts About Pet Homelessness, she elaborates on euthanasia saying, “nearly half of all animals that arrive in U.S. shelters are euthanized because there is a lack of space and adopters.” Animal homelessness will forever be a problem, but if we educate ourselves and others around us, we can significantly reduce the number and find deserving dogs happy, loving homes.