Did you ever wish you could save a stray animal you found on the side of the road or in a park? Well, you actually can by adopting pets from animal shelters instead of buying them at pet stores.
First of all, animal shelters save pets. They don’t breed them which prevents the animals from overpopulating. Overpopulation causes too many of one species to be alive, which results in not enough homes to hold them in.
Another reason is, animal shelters actually care about the animals. They treat them well and train them to be good pets. Animal shelters get them healthy and keep them that way. They also make sure whoever is adopting the pet is a good and responsible owner.
If you adopt from a shelter, you are not only saving one life but multiple because once one pet is gone, it opens up another spot for another animal to stay.
It is better to adopt a pet from a shelter instead of buying from a pet store because there are millions of strays who need good homes.
Another reason to adopt a pet is because it discourages puppy mills which are places where dogs are bred for money inhumanely. These places keep dogs in very tight cages and once they are no longer able to breed, they are either killed or abandoned.
“These mega-breeding facilities treat dog and cat mothers and fathers like money making machines with little to no regard for their health or well-being.” says the Humane Society of the United States, an organisation working to stop puppy mills and save animal lives.
You might think, pets in animal shelters have mental and physical health issues but that is not usually the case. People that work in animal shelters work to make the animals as healthy as possible.
Animals from pet stores are more likely to end up having mental and physical health issues. Pets from pet stores are usually bought from people or companies who don’t take care of them well and are sold to anyone who will buy them.
In conclusion, next time you think about getting a pet such as a dog or a cat, think about where you are adopting or buying it from. Do they take care of the animal? Are you making an impact? Every action counts.
