Pet overpopulation is a problem in Canada, so where do all the dogs go?

For at least a few years there have been regular transports of animals from shelters in the United States to Canada, leaving many to wonder: where do all these dogs go?

There are numerous transport companies and people who transport the animals there as often as on a weekly basis. Most of the trips are from states like California, Texas, Florida, and or other southern states and then they head up north, frequently ending with a final destination in Canada. After seeing that hundreds and even thousands of animals are being taken to Canada each month, people started to wonder where they are all going. This has led many to ask the same questions: Are there really that many available, good homes for animals in Canada? How do they find good homes for all these animals so quickly? How do they continue to find good homes for so many animals so quickly? What about Canada’s own animal overpopulation problem? What about their animals?

To answer these questions, we need to examine the facts. First, while Canada is a huge country they only have a population of about 35 million people; whereas, in just California we have around 38 million people and in the United States we have just over 315 million people. Surely, that means when looking at the mere numbers there are obviously a lot more people, meaning a lot more potential homes in the United States.

Not to mention, Canada had its own pet overpopulation problem throughout their country already. The German Shepherd Rescue of British Columbia’s (GSRBC) website discusses their having a pet overpopulation crisis in Canada. According to GSRBC’s website, “Each year shelters put to death more than 10 million healthy animals” and that “each day approx. 70,000 puppies and kittens are born in Canada versus 10,000 human births”. GSRBC says, “Do the Math” because it is obvious, there are just not enough homes. In addition, they say that only about 25% of all pets taken to shelters ever get adopted and admit that the majority of them will die in the shelter because there are just not enough homes.

Canada has been battling its own pet overpopulation problems for years. Rescues in Canada are constantly fighting to try to help save animals in their own country, so is it fair to send animals from the United States there? Are we sacrificing animals in one country for another’s? Are we really even saving them or just moving around the problem? These questions are far too big to be addressed in just one article, so I will continue to write to address this issue in future articles.

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