According to Cornell University, euthanasia in shelters is the number one killer of cats and dogs

November 23, 8:21 AMKansas City Pets ExaminerKristy Winfrey

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A sweet dog, waiting for a home

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According to Cornell University, euthanasia in shelters is the number one killer of cats and dogs.  Isn't that sickening?  You can do something about this problem.  Educate others, be a responsible pet parent-get your pet spayed, keep them for life and when you move, take them with you, teach your children to be responsible, support your local shelter.   

I volunteer at a no kill shelter near my home.  We have cats dumped frequently.  We get some really ridiculous reasons, such as, we are moving, we don't have time for her anymore, she is too loving, she won't sleep on the bed with me, blah, blah, blah.  We had a woman bring back her cat that she adopted a few years before and her daughter was very upset.  The woman claimed she didn't have the money to care for the cat.  Another shelter volunteer saw her that same weekend buying puppy supplies.  What is she teaching her daughter?!?  How long will that puppy be living with them?  Probably not that long.  

Most cats and dogs, brought to a kill shelter, WILL be killed.  There are tons of puppies and kittens out there that people want to adopt.  Nobody wants a 5 year old cat who was set in her ways and is now thrown into a shelter cage, is scared to death and hissing at everyone who isn't her family.  That cat will be killed. 

I might be ranting here but it is a needless death and it seems to me that people don't even care.  They don't want to look at the hard facts, even though if they did, they could change it!  People don't think of animals as living beings, they think of them as second class citizens who can be relinquished when they are no longer convenient.   

"The Humane Society of the United States estimates that 4-6 million cats and dogs are euthanized annually in this country. This number has decreased markedly since the 1980's when an estimated 17 million were killed annually. Awareness of the magnitude of the problem, humane education, promotion of surgical sterilization, and other animal control efforts have contributed to this dramatic decrease."

Around the country, 500,000 are killed each month, 125,000 killed each week, 17,857 killed a day, 744 killed an hour, 12 killed a minute.  So, by the time you finish reading this, 36 cats and dogs will be dead.

Here are some ways you can help save the lives of cats and dogs:

1. Donate money or items to a no kill shelter in your area. Your money does the most going toward your local shelter rather than a national shelter with millions in the bank versus a small shelter barely surviving. 
2. Offer to foster an animal for your local animal shelter.  Fostering means the animal lives with you and some or all costs are covered by the shelter.
3. Offer to take cats or dogs to the vet for your local shelter.
4. Shelters need to be cleaned and cats and dogs need to be socialized-they can always use help! Offer to walk dogs once a week, for two or three hours.  When more people are available to walk dogs, the dogs get more exercise. They will also look better to potential adopters because they aren't filled with energy, jumping and barking inside their cage. 
5. Cats need to be brushed and played with as well.  Offer to help socialize them or foster a litter of kittens.   
6. Use your talents! Can you sew? Make some warm quilts for the cats.  Are you a photographer? Offer to take pictures of the animals for the next fundraiser.  A groomer? Find what you can do best and offer to do it! 
7. Adopt an animal!
8. Offer to get an elderly neighbor's animal spayed or neutered.  Fix free-roaming cats. 
9. Offer to do laundry for a local shelter or clinic that fixes feral cats. 
10. Get involved somehow!!  The cats and dogs will thank you!

Learn more about saving our nation's animals who have committed no crime:

nokilladvocacycenter.org

Read this book-Redemption: The Myth of Pet Overpopulation and the No Kill Revolution in America (Paperback) It's a very sad testimony of one man's struggle to save animal lives in a system who wants to kill them. 

As you read more about the no kill philosophy, you might come across groups (PETA) who disagree with it.  All I have to say is, they kill animals and they don't try to hide it-so don't believe them.  They also try to brainwash our children with very violent images.