My mother and I love dogs so much that any time we are near a Humane Society set up, we always pull over. That’s how we acquired our most recent canine friends. So it was no surprise that we found ourselves at the 2nd annual Fetch-a-Palooza, I managed to only fall in love with three dogs, which is a new record for me.
There were so many grinning slobbery faces, full of hope and excitement seeing so many new people, dogs and cats were everywhere, their cages filled the entire Journal Center grounds, and for two days they wormed their ways into various hearts and minds. Last year over 600 animals were adopted at the Fetch-A-Palooza, and this year, hopefully the number grew. Though this heart-warming event gave many animals new homes and second chances, I left the event wondering how so many animals could find themselves in such hopeless situations. Every year, six to eight million dogs and cats are taken into shelters and four million cats and dogs have to be euthanized. Pet overpopulation has become an increasingly frustrating problem because the solution is so simple, and the repercussions are so horrible. The solution is simply to have pets spayed or neutered, and to increasingly adopt pets from shelters as opposed to buying them from friends or breeders. Shelter dogs may take a little more work; both of my current dogs have issues from their previous lives, one was tied to a pole everyday and the other dumped on the street. I know that we have showed them that humans can be loving and caring, and that after their awful first years we owe it to them to love and care for them. I have made a difference in my pets’ lives, and I plead the rest of America to end this crisis and make a difference in some poor animal’s life. Go to your local shelters and adopt. You will find wonderful loving pets who need someone to change their life, let that someone be you.
by: Abby Magnus
photo credit: mark.pattersonII