Overpopulation of Shelter Dogs: A Review of Stray Dogs’ future

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1 Overpopulation of Shelter Dogs: A Review of Stray Dogs’ future Introduction Clearly remember how passionately a group of cute dog rush at me when I walk into the rescue shelter. Every year, I would go there as a volunteer to care for dogs. Even through some of them lost sights, they still stare at me filled with hope and love. They are the same as home pet, they are angles. One of which cared by me for a long time is named Lucky. When I thought about her name Lucky, I wished that she is lucky enough to meet a nice owner. She was saved by the center one years ago. She has a couple of large liquid eyes and soft fur, unfortunately when the volunteer found her in the street, she has lost one of her legs. Lucky plays actively when she is being with people. It seems that she never feels upset because of losing something. One year passes, nobody chooses to bring the cute Lucky home. She faces the reality to process euthanasia. Actually, if she has unbroken body, there might be a good person’s eye light. In the current society, there are a lot of dogs ignored by adopters in the shelter. According to the data investigated form ASPCA, approximately 6.5 million companion animals enter U.S. animal shelters nationwide every year. However, the truth is around 3.2 million shelter animals are adopted by people each year and half of them are dogs. We face the problem that if people would like to adopt shelter dogs so the pressure of the shelter can be relieved? Historical Background Started from 1970, when unwanted dogs’ appearance got worse (Hamer), the HSUS had paid attention in the euthanasia in the shelter. In the 1973 survey, The HSUS estimated that 13.5 million dogs and cats were euthanized nationwide by shelters, which was equal to around 20% of the owned dog (about 35 million) and cat (around 30 million) populations at the time. After caring them for three to seven days, they need to face death. By the data research done in 2 thousands of shelters, Merritt Clifton and Phil Arkow (ANR) provide the result to prove that euthanasia rate was decreasing continuously. With the lower euthanasia rate, the dogs’ protection organization was reasonable to save dogs by sending them into shelters. An American local group named Animal Welfare Association in New Jersey sprung up to provide humane shelters for stray dogs and cats (AWA’s 70th Anniversary). The US government is struggling in funding shelters. Known by The Human Society of the Unite States, Andrew Rowan and Tamara Kartal states that there is an uptrend of shelters building. There were only 350 active shelter in the USA estimated by Rober Chenoweth (the President of the HSUS). Then this number had grown to around 3500 in 3100 countries by 2015. Compared with roaming in the street, shelter dogs receive the protection and good caring. Primarily, why there is overpopulation of shelter dogs? Pet overpopulation leads increasing shelter dogs On the one hand, humans are responsible to the abandoned dogs. Trace back to 40 years ago, overpopulation of unwanted dogs appeared to catch people’s eyes. Why there is the overpopulation of unwanted dogs roaming in the street? Account for the urban city, the overpopulation of pet was caused by the 80’s recession. A lot of dog owners claimed that they 3 cannot afford pets anymore (Hamer). Currently, pet overpopulation is more related to the social development. Said by Betsy Saul, the the co-founder of the pet adoption Web site Petfinder.com, the overpopulation problem lies in supply and demand. Also, it is directly related to the economy. The economic strain surrounded by owners lead to an “overburden” problem rather than overpopulation (DVM, April 2010). There are various expenditures to young people both elder people live in this modern society. Some of them would send dogs to shelters to help find a new owner, the rest less-responsive people choose to discard. And then, the pet becomes stray dogs and cats. On the other hand, stray dogs’ fertility capacity is better than domestic dogs. Without the help from animal-loving groups, there would be more dogs roaming in the street. Limited financial condition to shelter overpopulation Although the number of shelters gets increasing continuously currently, we cannot regard building shelters continuously as the solution, because space and finance are both limited, also labor source is restricted. According to Hamer, the normal expenditure for animal-control program is around 500 million dollars annually. With the existing overpopulation, the fund would not be enough to take care of one more dog. At the same time, the labor force is limited. Successful adoption is always happened with well-behaving dogs. After long time ignoring, maybe shelter dogs have some behavioral problems. Their aggressive appearance cannot be restricted. In the article Behavior of dogs adopted from animal shelter written by Eva and Svatava, according to Wells and Hepper (2000), the most common problem perceived by adopters of shelter dogs is fearfulness, followed by excessive activity, barking, destructiveness, inappropriate elimination and aggression towards owners, strangers and other animals. Overpopulation means less concentration, therefore, dogs’ behavior may not be corrected in the shelter. 4 Limited resources in providing a good adopting condition From the recent national trend, adoptions have become a factor driving additional decreases in national shelter euthanasia starting around 2010 (Marsh 2010). If the large number of dogs live in shelter can be adopted? At least, adoption is a continuously success can be achieved by people spontaneously. When adopters make a decision, the morphology of the dog becomes one of the most important considering factor. All owners would like to see docile and healthy dogs, instead of picking up an aggressive dog would hurt humans, or has no energy whole day. Because of overpopulation of dogs live in a shelter today, the individual space and activity are limited for every single dog. At the same time, maybe the shelter staff faces the shortcomings of food and they only have restricted attention to everyone. The environment enrichment is a method which provides a better living conditions to animal (BOERE, 2001). It effectively reduces the stress and behavioral disorders (CARLSTEAD&SHEPHERDSON, 2000). No matter how difficult their roaming journey is, they can receive the good care under the good treatment. Therefore, their characters may be more active and passionate. The investigation done by present study shows that dogs would decrease lying time in shelter kennels after environment enrichment. Time costs three weeks. When the process in 1 or 2 weeks, there is no obvious change happen in dogs. However, it seems that the surprising improvement would happen at fixed time. 5 As the result shows, the whole society and organizations are better to come up with the idea to enhance the quality of the shelter service rather than to care if the number of shelters are large enough to hold more stray animals. In the long run, the good caring condition can help cute dogs find their real owner and sweet home. It is still not considered at all. Living in shelters, however, which would not be in details enough like live in the individual space. Contradiction 6 According to the published article from Brown University (2009), Stephen Coate states that a recent survey shows a majority of owners view their pets as members of their families (APPMA, 2005). The pet owners’ responsibility has been increasing. Therefore, the pressure of relinquish dogs would be decreased. Researching by Andrew and Tamara in the Dog Population & Dog Sheltering Trends in the United States of America, today there are very few “street” dogs and the euthanasia rate of dogs in shelters has fallen by more than 90%. The overpopulation of dogs becomes a quite controversial topic. The former research results point out factors which affect adopters to make a decision. However, in my statement, there is no clear method to deal with the rest of the shelter dogs. In other words, if there are people are willing to adopt them? It should be solved immediately. 7 Works Cited Hamer, J. (1975). Pet overpopulation. Editorial research reports 1975 (Vol. I). Washington, DC: CQ Press. Retrieved from http://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/cqresrre1975020700 Karaim, R. (2018, July 13). Protecting animals. CQ researcher, 28, 585-608. Retrieved from http://library.cqpress.com/ Sampaio, Rubia Avlade Guedes; de Figueiredo Martins, Yanna Nascimento; Barbosa, Francisca Maria Sousa; Franco, Camilla Ingrid Queiroz; Kobayashi, Maria Duarte; Talieri, Ivia Carmem. Ciência Rural. 2019, Vol. 49 Issue 1, p1-7. 7p. DOI: 10.1590/0103-8478cr20180181. Rowan, Andrew; Kartal, Tamara. Animals (2076-2615). May2018, Vol. 8 Issue 5, p68. 1p. DOI: 10.3390/ani8050068. Marsh, P. Replacing Myth with Math: Using Evidence-Based Programs to Eradicate Shelter Overpopulation; Town and Country Reprographics, Incorporated: Concord, NH, USA, 2010. Whitcomb, Rachael. DVM: The Newsmagazine of Veterinary Medicine. Apr2010, Vol. 41 Issue 4, p30-32. 2p.
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Overpopulation of Shelter Dogs: A Review of Stray Dogs’ future
Introduction
In our society, the existence of animals is one we cannot ignore as they have grown to
become a part of our daily lives. In our day to day lives, we interact with both tame and wild
creatures as we undertake in various activities such as the normal life at home. Over the years,
men have taken up particular animals as pets and have cared for them in the safety of their
homes. However, as time has gone by, such animals have been neglected and let out to the streets
where they have to fend for themselves. Their free breeding on the roads has led to their
population outburst. With time, the development of animal shelters for the care and rescue of
these animals was put into place (Irvine, 2017). This was after the situation begun to spiral out of
control. The first animal shelter was put up in the year 1869 (Irvine, 2017). However, the issue at
hand arises from the adoption of animals back into their caring homes.
I have interacted with this issue as I recall my service at a particular shelter where I
volunteered annually to take care of the dogs. One of my favorite dogs was known as lucky.
Unfortunately, Lucky was never lucky enough to come to get a new home, and her chances
lessened as time went by. Having been in the center for about a year, she faced euthanasia for the
cost of having an animal there for too long becomes a burden after the first few months. Lucky
has lost a leg in the streets, and despite her lively nature, she still could not manage to secure a
home (Irvine, 2017). Sadly, this was as a result of neglection of the initial owner to the dog and
has caused her the ability ever to enjoy another home.
In the current society, there are a lot of dogs ignored by adopters in the shelters.
According to the data investigated form ASPCA, approximately 6.5 million companion animals
enter U.S. animal shelters nationwide every year. Only about half of this number is readopted as

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well as the other number remains crumped up in the shelters. About half of the readopted
animals from the shelter are dogs (Rowan, & Kartal, 2018).
Historical Background
Started from 1970, when unwanted dogs’ appearance got worse (Hamer), the HSUS had
paid attention in the euthanasia in the shelter. In the 1973 survey, The HSUS estimated that 13.5
million dogs and cats were euthanized nationwide by shelters, which was equal to around 20% of
the owned dogs (about 35 million) and ca...


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