Animal Abandonment
From Staff Reports
 Cookie, successfully adopted from the Asheville Humane Society. Was she one of the puppies the students saw? We hope so.
The puppy had fluffy ears and wrinkles of dark fur over his eyes. He was a little bigger then a loaf of bread, but heavier. He liked to nibble, climb on people and lick their faces, and to play. But on this day, he was thrown out of a car window on the cold, bare street and watched the car drive away, confusion in his eyes. He’d been abandoned without food, water, or shelter. Animal abandonment happens around the world. But that doesn’t mean its right.
People may abandon their animals because they can’t take care of them. Or it may be that they don’t want them or want to take responsibility for them. Sixty percent of the animals at the Asheville Humane Society animal shelter are strays. Jim Fulton, Volunteer Coordinator from the Asheville Humane Society says, "Animal abandonment is cruel!" Here some ways you can help end animal abandonment. Imagine a dog on the street, it has no collar and there is nobody around. You should report animals like this to the animal shelter or the Asheville Animal Control Services, 259-5872. Another thing you can do is help people who have a hard time taking responsibility for their pets.A solution to starving animals is to try to get pet owners the right healthy food for animals. The owners may abandon them if they can't get the food for their pets. Zach Wilson, age 9, started a food pantry for pets in Florida, the Central Florida Animal Pantry. It was such a great help to the animals. You can also spay and neuter your animals so it can't reproduce. You can go to Asheville Humane Alliance Spay & Neuter Clinic on 231 Haywood Street Asheville, NC 28801 or call them at (828) 252-2079. According to Jim Fulton, you can volunteer at the Asheville/Buncombe Humane Society. If you volunteer you would make the lives of the pets even better! If you see a darn cute pet you want to keep forever, at the Humane Society you can adopt an animal. Don’t adopt from a pet store or a breeder. If you know you can't take care of a pet take it to the animal shelter instead of abandoning it. Abandonment is a major problem everywhere. .Abandonment is more of a problem than we thought--and even though there are many ways to help, there will probably always be abandoned animals. There will always be poor people who can't afford to keep their pets. There's a law in the city of Asheville that says that you have to spay and neuter your pets but there are only four animal control agents to enforce that so people don't do it and they end up abandoning puppies, like the one we described in the first paragraph. This puppy should have been loved and cared for by its original owners. This puppy could have been back at its owner’s house playing with its bone and then having dinner. |
Asheville Animal Control Services
Assistance with Pet Expenses
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