Each year, over 6.8 million animals get surrendered to animal shelters or clinics. Many of these animals are either injured to the point of no return or covered in some kind of disease that the shelters have to deal with. Many know the story of the disabled cats you see on TikTok, but you don't see all the animals suffering in the shelters, many of which will never be adopted. Out of the 3 million pets adopted each year, according to the Zebra Blog, only 12.8% of these animals are disabled or unhealthy (The Zebra).

 

Adopting disabled pets or pets in need is a huge task, but it pays off. You can be a rescue pet parent and help that animal live their life to the fullest even though their chances of survival might be low. Don't let shelters euthanize animals because nobody will come to pick them out for a forever home. Care for them and make their life worthwhile.

All across the nation commercials and social media advertisements display animals in shelters suffering. The animals shown are from larger companies who can afford the commercials, Yes, these companies may be struggling with housing opportunities for pets, butin reality, smaller businesses are struggling more than these large corporations. As more and more animals filter in more and more staff are needed to help take care of these new recruits. As stated in TMJ's 4 o’clock news, workers are completely overwhelmed. When their kennels are full it takes five times longer to clean and switch bedding, feed, water, and do other chores. Their workers are passionate about work and do what needs to get done together every day, but there is a lot on all of their plates (Crowther).

 

The struggles these workers face each day add up little by little. Many of these workers face worker burnout due to the amount of overtime they put in each week. With little to no volunteers at local shelters, the work for the staff just keeps piling up into a mountain of never-ending.

Before and during the pandemic foster parents and shelter volunteers were easy to find. Shelters say that it was easy peasy to rehome or find foster parents for over sixty animals in just a week. In today's shelter society, they are lucky to rehome three and foster six (Zeilinger).

 

In our local shelters currently, there are over 100 strays and household pets that cannot find families. Without volunteers to help care for them or foster families to take them in, it is highly likely that these pets will eventually have to be surrendered. The importance of help has never been greater. Overwhelmed staff cannot keep the work up by themselves. Pets deserve more than living at a shelter their entire lives, not that shelters aren't great places, but a home with a loving secure family will better benefit animals in need. If interested in helping this situation you can contact your local animal shelter to inquire about volunteering opportunities. 

 Animal shelters have many things to worry about on a daily basis. Shelters take care of animals' daily needs whether it be vet care, flea and tick prevention, vaccinations, grooming, adoption fees, micro-chipping, and training. These tasks all have a high cost, the lowest being the cost of grooming at 20 dollars per animal (ASPCA Staff).

 

Though some of these duties may be a one-time occurrence the cost of them is even higher than the small things. Each year, after calculating and adding up all total costs, shelters spend just over 9,000 dollars on animal care (ASPCA Staff).

 

 People still wonder why shelters need more money when the answer is just a bit of research or a question away.  Shelter costs are why they need help. Shelters deserve the chance to better an animal’s life and earn the money they need. It is why they reach out and ask for just mere pennies. In order to reach the goals of these shelters we need the community help and the generosity of humans like you.