ANIMAL SHELTER PROGRAM

Community Problem Report: Animal Shelter Program

University of Texas at El Paso

RWS 1301

July 20, 2018

Jazmine Uribe-Palafox

80604713
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Abstract

The number of stray animals is increasing as time passes by, the shelters and pounds are

doing the best they can to decrease the dangers both the animals and humans are risking by

letting animals roam around. The streets are unsanitary with infectious food that any animal can

eat, the animals are at risk of dying due to environmental exposure and also have a higher risk in

causing accidents considering animals aren't known to be cautious when they're near an open

road. However, the issue isn't the percentage of animal pets roaming the streets, but how this is

affecting the animal shelter and pound community.

Introduction

Overpopulation of Animals are causing certain issues such as increasing stray animals,

lack of homes for the animals, and are at risk in having an unbearable death due to the extreme

environments they're exposed to for being a stray. There are animal rescue corporations to help

decrease and control the stray and animal population, but they can't control the stray population

alone if families aren't willing to take care of the animals properly instead of neglecting their

needs considering it costs so much to take them to the vet.

"Approximately 6.5 million companion animals enter U.S. animal shelters nationwide

every year" and yet there are still a lot more animals left on the street because their family moved

and never took their pet along with them, they couldn't afford taking care of the animal, and the

dog simply ran away and never went back home. (ASPCA 2018). This is creating many issues

such as spreading various diseases, like the tape worm most dogs usually get, increasing road kill

accidents, and causing a huge dent into the animal shelter communities' pocket. Since most

shelters are non-profited community created to aid the stray and help find a better home for
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them, they are having a difficult time trying to maintain active to help decrease the amount of

animals suffering from malnourishment and lack of health and hygiene care.

Most people like to think of a pet as a child which is completely true. Since our pets bark

instead of talk, they require a lot more attention and require frequent visits to the vet just like a

child needing to go to the hospital or clinic whenever they get ill. Their food is just as expensive

as buying the proper foods a child needs in order to grow strong and healthy. With this said, it's a

cruel punishment towards the animals to kick them out because they didn't want them anymore

and could no longer shelter the pets. It's like putting your child up for adoption because you

disliked their behavior, they had serious health issues, or the family just didn't want to deal with

the hassle anymore.

Having stray animals on the streets is like having more homeless people on the streets,

but the positive side in this is that homeless people can have their own "man's best friend."

However, just as how our country is struggling to keep people off the streets, the animal shelters

are helping the government keep animals off the streets and give the community a better sense of

security. I believe that animal shelters should have a program that can help them choose a proper

family that can give their pets the proper attention that it needs to survive another day, similar to

the program the adoption homes use to find a proper home for the orphaned children.

Another solution to this issue and by having people donate to the animal shelter

community so they can keep aiding the stray and help them heal so they can live longer with a

better family than the one they had before. There's been commercials that show you a brief clip

as to what most stray animals end up going through and tell the audience how they could help the

animals find the proper help they need to get better which is to donate money to the animal
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organizations such as the Humane Society or the PAWS organization. However, the population

of dogs and cats are increasing like the amount of the increased human population and

overpopulation can be a big risk factor due to the minimum amount of food and water supplies,

and the number of homes that available to take care of pets.

A solution that could help with the overpopulation is to neuter the animals to prevent

dealing with puppies and debating on what to do with them if nobody would want to claim the

puppy as their own. People don't necessarily have to do much to make sure the animals aren't in

pain, or finally have a decent and happy life.

Conclusion

As I said before, the people can donate money to the organization to make sure they continue

to help clean the streets from stray animals, neuter them so the people won't have a hard time

deciding what to do with the newborns, and to make sure to inform the family adopting new

animals the enormous responsibility that comes with owning a dog or cat. I believe that these

solutions are very crucial considering how much of a help it can be in keeping animals off

the street and prevent them from getting serious diseases that require intensive care and

treatments that most animal shelters have trouble getting due to their lack of funding.
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Reference
1. Turner, P., Berry, J., & MacDonald, S. (2012, August). Animal shelters and animal
welfare: Raising the bar. Retrieved July 20, 2018, from
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3398531/
2. Lyu, P. (2015). Proposal on Solutions to Stray Dog Problem in American Cities.
Retrieved July 20, 2018, from Journal of Political Sciences & Public Affairs 3.3 DOI:
10.4172/2332-0761.1000175
3. ASPCA. (2018). Pet Statistics. Retrieved July 20, 2018, from
https://www.aspca.org/animal-homelessness/shelter-intake-and-surrender/pet-statistics