This week I heard something on the news that caught my attention, so I decided to find the article about it. It was entitled "Hard times create heartwrenching scene at local animal shelter" on the Kare 11 news website. It was about the increasing number of abandoned animals in the metro area. The people working at the Northwoods Humane Society suspect that because of the tanking economy, people can no longer afford their pets. Staff also said that people can no longer pay the $30 animal drop off fine, and that 16 cats were left outside the shelter in the past week. I think that this raises a huge concern for not only the animals, but the families forced to give up their pets. It helps us see that the state of the economy affects people in so many ways-and not just adults, it also affects the several children that had to give away their pets. This article brings up a great point, that no one wants to talk about their financial situations at such a hard time. They make excuses to hide their real reasons for giving up the animals and to avoid embarrassment. The hardest part of this all is that the worst hasn't hit us yet.
I found this article at:
http://www.kare11.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=528134&catid=2
3 comments:
It's true that this is just one of many ways that the current economic problems creates problems. Living essentials cost money, and people are going to choose to feed themselves over their pets. Not to say that there is widespread starvation, but people need to save money. In the end I agree; it is pretty selfish of people to just abandon pets.
Stories about animals always depress me because they have no say in their situation. They did not do anything to end up in the situation where they were stuck in a human society parking lot. To me this makes it so much more sad and unfortunate. The question becomes, if families can not longer take care of their pets, who is going to? The unfortunate fate that will probably befall most these animals makes me sick.
After hearing that people can no longer even pay thirty dollars for the privilege of getting rid of their animal, these overcrowded animal shelters will run out of funds to operate with. Not only will animals then suffer in financially pressed households or on the streets, but eventually even the shelter won't have the means to support them. This economic crisis is really taking a toll on almost everyone, and we can only hope that it will takes its course quickly before it brings our economy back on top.
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